To stay or to go?

Foreign banks were attracted to Portugal by the infrastructure and privatization boom of the mid-1980s. Now they are finding the going much tougher. The battle to lend to large corporates has reached fever pitch and margins are so eroded that some players are having doubts about their future in the country. Nick Kochan reports

Foreign banks in Portugal are having to take serious decisions about their future. With market growth slowing and competition increasing, a change of strategy is the least that is needed and some players have decided to quit altogether. Others have adopted a halfway-house position, such as cutting staff and moving operations to Madrid.

Of the departing banks, the most notable recent example was Chemical Banking Corporation, which prior to its merger with Chase sold a controlling stake in Banco Chemical (Portugal) to the industrial and financial concern run by Antonio Champalimaud in February.

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