Members of the Budget and Finance Committee will urgently summon the State Secretary of Finance to parliament about the end of the ‘E’ series of Savings Certificates and the distribution of this product by banks.
Last Wednesday, the deputies unanimously approved the PCP’s request for an urgent hearing by the Secretary of State for Finance, João Nuno Mendes, on the suspension of the issuance of Series ‘E’ savings bonds.as well as the part of the BE application that called this officer.
On the other hand, the part of the BE’s request that also urged the Finance Minister, Fernando Medina, to the Budget and Finance Committee (COF) because of the negative vote of the PS, was rejected.
Along the way, it was also due to the PS’ vote against, Chega’s request for an urgent hearing from the Finance Minister and the Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Agency for the Management of the Treasury and Public Debt (IGCP), Miguel Martin.
This is the end of the ‘E’ series of Savings Bonds (CA) and the beginning of the ‘F’ series, with a lower fee, the change that also makes the bank a sales channel for this financial product.
During the discussion about the requirements PCP deputy Duarte Alves believed that the Assembly of the Republic (AR) “cannot ignore a decision that affects savings”, but also “the relationship with the bank itself”.
An argument shared by the BE deputy Mariana Mortágua, who defended that it is important to discuss the “moment of the decision taken, after the statement of the banks”, as well as the commissions that the Republic will or will not pay to private banks for the distribution of the product.
Chega’s deputy Rui Afonso also insisted that the CAs are an “important savings tool for the Portuguese” and that “as a result they become less dependent on bank financing”.
CA subscriptions are no longer made only in the branches of CTT or Espaços do Cidadão, but are also available “on the physical or digital networks of any financial institution or payment institution registered with the Bank of Portugal and designated for this purpose by the IGCP “.
The suspension of the E series and its replacement with the new one led to several criticisms from the opposition, who accused the government of giving in or doing a favor to the banks.
The charge was dismissed by the Secretary of State for Finance, João Nuno Mendes, in a statement to journalists on Saturday, responding to criticism, stating that “no concessions had been made to the bank”.
In response to Lusa, an official APB source said that “the banks had no prior knowledge either of the savings bond decision or of the banks’ intended involvement in their sale”.
The same source stressed that the decision will be up to each financial institution: “Once the terms of this involvement are known, each bank will continue its analysis and decide for itself”.
The president of the republic, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, said on Monday that the change to the terms of savings bonds is an “implicit call to banks” to offer more interest on deposits.
Source: DN
