Domingues, who chaired the board from late August to the end of the year - before leaving over a controversy about the terms of his contract - went through the plan drafted for the bank in recent months to deal with the major problems it faces. In particular, he said, it aimed at “downsizing Caixa to the business available”, which implied reducing costs on pain of the company “no longer being viable in the long term”.
To reduce outgoings, Domingues said, the plan foresees five years of cuts, above all with an estimated 2,200 job losses. About one quarter of these would come via natural wastage and the rest via early retirement,.
According to Domingues, this part of the plan has been discussed internally and can be executed without undermining services to clients, who are increasingly using online banking.
In addition, the outgoing chairman said, some 150 to 200 CGD branches are to close in the next few years - or possibly more, given the ongoing “technological revolution”.
CGD has been reducing its workforce and branch network for several years now; that is now to accelerate.
At the end of September, the bank employed 9,489 people and had 1,212 branches.
Domingues is shortly to be replaced by Paulo Macedo, a former minister of health and former head of the tax office.