The Banco de Portugal (BdP) welcomes a new leader this Monday, Álvaro Santos Pereira, as Mário Centeno remains in the institution as a consultant with a gross salary of approximately 17,000 euros. Centeno has secured a way to stay at the bank’s headquarters in Baixa de Lisboa, rather than moving to the building on Almirante Reis Street in Lisbon, as reported by Eco.
Mário Centeno confirmed in Parliament that he would continue at the institution after stepping down from his position, seeking acknowledgment for his 35-year career at the bank. “It is evident that I will stay at Banco de Portugal. I have been with Banco de Portugal for 35 years,” Centeno stated, after being questioned by the parliamentary benches of PSD and CDS-PP regarding his future at the central bank.
In a hearing with the Committee on Budget, Finance and Public Administration (COFAP), Centeno was called to discuss the central bank’s activity plan and, at the request of CDS-PP, the contract for the purchase of the new central building of the BdP from insurer Fidelidade.
During the hearing, deputies Alberto Fonseca (PSD) and Paulo Núncio (CDS-PP) inquired about Centeno’s plans after his leadership at the institution, where he would be succeeded by economist Álvaro Santos Pereira, former Minister of Economy under the Pedro Passos Coelho government.
Centeno previously served as a consultant to the BdP administration from December 2013 to November 2015, after leaving his position as assistant director of the BdP’s Economic Studies Department, and before becoming Minister of Finance (under António Costa’s PS governments).
Álvaro Santos Pereira took office today as the governor of Banco de Portugal, succeeding Mário Centeno. Santos Pereira, 53, served as the Minister of Economy from 2011 to 2013 in the PSD/CDS-PP government of Passos Coelho.
Santos Pereira was the chief economist at the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) when the PSD/CDS-PP government announced his appointment to succeed Centeno on July 24 of this year.
The public presentation of the new governor is scheduled for this morning at the Money Museum in Lisbon, with the Minister of State and Finance, Joaquim Miranda Sarmento, delivering a speech at 10:00 a.m.
In his inauguration speech, Santos Pereira emphasized working on “regulatory simplification,” advocating the elimination of “redundant” and “excessive” legislation to make regulation “more agile and coherent” following a decade of strengthened supervision and regulation in the banking sector after recent crises.
Regarding banking supervision, a role of the central bank, Santos Pereira stated it will be “attentive and demanding.” He also spoke about internal changes he plans to implement at Banco de Portugal, including “competitions for all directors and deputy directors hiring” to “increase transparency and meritocracy.”
