Banco de Poupança e Crédito (BPC) ( English: ''Savings and Credit Bank'') is a government-owned, full service bank in

Angola Angola, officially the Republic of Angola, is a country on the west-Central Africa, central coast of Southern Africa. It is the second-largest Portuguese-speaking world, Portuguese-speaking (Lusophone) country in both total area and List of c ...

. With some 68 branches, including one in Cabinda, it has the largest branch network in the country.

Overview

BPC is a large financial services institution serving the retail banking market in Angola, with focus on the

small and medium enterprise Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) or small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) are businesses whose personnel and revenue numbers fall below certain limits. The abbreviation "SME" is used by many national agencies and international organizat ...

s in the country. As of 2016, BPC was the largest public bank in Angola. It was also the second largest commercial bank in the country by market share, accounting for 23.4 percent of all banking customers in the nation at that time.

History

In 1956 the ''Banco Comercial de Angola'' was founded in

Lisbon Lisbon ( ; ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 567,131, as of 2023, within its administrative limits and 3,028,000 within the Lisbon Metropolitan Area, metropolis, as of 2025. Lisbon is mainlan ...

, but with half the shares being in the hands of the Belgian Banque de Bruxelles. It immediately opened an office in

Luanda Luanda ( ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Angola, largest city of Angola. It is Angola's primary port, and its major industrial, cultural and urban centre. Located on Angola's northern Atlantic coast, Luanda is Ang ...

. The bank transferred its head office to Luanda in 1967. Later the bank was owned by the Banco Português do Atlântico. In 1971, Barclays Bank received shares in Banco Português do Atlântico in return for contributing its branches in

Mozambique Mozambique, officially the Republic of Mozambique, is a country located in Southeast Africa bordered by the Indian Ocean to the east, Tanzania to the north, Malawi and Zambia to the northwest, Zimbabwe to the west, and Eswatini and South Afr ...

to ''Banco Comercial de Angola''. After independence in 1975, the Angolan government nationalized the bank and changed its name to ''Banco Popular de Angola''. At about the same time, the government in

São Tomé and Príncipe São Tomé and Príncipe, officially the Democratic Republic of São Tomé and Príncipe, is an island country in the Gulf of Guinea, off the western equatorial coast of Central Africa. It consists of two archipelagos around the two main isla ...

nationalized its branch in that country, incorporating it into what is now the Central Bank of São Tomé and Príncipe. Banco Comercial de Angola also had an office in

Macau Macau or Macao is a special administrative regions of China, special administrative region of the People's Republic of China (PRC). With a population of about people and a land area of , it is the most List of countries and dependencies by p ...

that in 1974 became ''Banco Comercial de Macau'', as a subsidiary of Banco Português do Atlântico. The Government of Mozambique nationalized the operations there belonging to the bank, incorporating them into the Banco de Moçambique. In 1991, the government changed the name of ''Banco Popular de Angola'' to the present name ''Banco de Poupança e Crédito''.

Reorganization and recapitalization

BPC accumulated a huge number of

non-performing loan A non-performing loan (NPL) is a bank loan that is subject to late repayment or is unlikely to be repaid by the borrower in full. Non-performing loans represent a major challenge for the banking sector, as they reduce profitability. They are ofte ...

s (NPL), in the period ending in December 2017. The NPL ratio ballooned from 4.5 percent in 2016 to 23.2 percent in 2017. In May 2017, the government of Angola created a public entity for asset recovery called ''Recredit'', for the sole purpose of buying bad loans from BPC, Angola’s largest bank by assets at that time. Initially capitalized with US$2 billion, the government borrowed another US$3.5 billion from the

International Monetary Fund The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is a major financial agency of the United Nations, and an international financial institution funded by 191 member countries, with headquarters in Washington, D.C. It is regarded as the global lender of las ...

to further recapitalize Recredit and thereby provide liquidity to BPC in order to lend more to Angolan businesses. Other rationalization measures include trimming down the number of employees from 4,820 to 3,220, by letting 1,600 go, either through regular retirement, early retirement or termination. The number of bank branches will also be trimmed. In August 2020, the first group of 156 employees were terminated and 53 service points closed. It is expected that another 120 employees will be released soon after and another 11 service points closed. The terminated employees receive 6 months of family health insurance, loan forgiveness for loans below AOA:25 million (US$40,500) or reduction of interest rates for larger loans, free tuition for two professional courses and cash severance payments of AOA:10 million (US$16,000).

Shareholding

The table below illustrates the shareholding in BPC in 2016, before restructuring and the shareholding expected in 2022 after reorganization.

References

External links