By Patricia Kowsmann
LISBON--Banco Comercial Portugues SA (BCP.LB), Portugal's
largest bank by market capitalization, was among the 25 eurozone
banks that failed the European Central Bank's financial-health
check, although it has already taken enough measures this year to
shore up its balance sheet.
Three Portuguese lenders--Banco Comercial Portugues, Banco BPI
SA (BPI.LB) and state-owned Caixa Geral de Depositos SA--were
tested by the ECB, which reviewed the financial status of 130 banks
before it takes over their supervision in November. Novo Banco,
that resulted from the break-up of the collapsed Banco Espirito
Santo SA in August, wasn't submitted to the test.
While Banco Comercial Portugues showed its core capital buffer
will stay above 8% of risk-weighted assets under a basic-case
scenario where the economy develops as expected until 2016, it
failed to maintain a capital buffer of at least 5.5% if the
European Union slips into a two-year recession and Portugal slips
into a three-year economic contraction.
The test was based on bank data for the end of 2013, however,
and the Portuguese lender said it has already taken steps in 2014
to boost its capital and, therefore, its ability to absorb
losses.
In July, it raised 2.24 billion euros ($2.8 billion) in a rights
issue, allowing it to pay a chunk of the EUR3 billion in state aid
it received in 2012. The lender has €750 million left in state
money which it said it will repay by 2016. It has also committed to
selling assets and cut costs.
Patricia Kowsmann at patricia.kowsmann@wsj.com