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Prof.’s speech Álvaro Santos Pereira, new Governor of the Bank of Portugal, was designed, in content and form, in detail. The presentation was made in the old Church of São Julião, now the Money Museum – the first time, at least that I remember, that the ceremony was not held in the “house” of the Minister of Finance. The media noise that surrounded Prof. Mário Centeno accentuated an atmosphere of nervous expectation. The governor wanted to send a message of independence and there were journalists who went so far as to count the seconds of a handshake that goes down in the history of these ceremonies. A seven-second greeting.

I sincerely hope that they can understand each other. In the name of the country and the financial system, the credibility of institutions and trust, but also in the name of one and the other. Both (foreign) university professors with international prestige and ideas close to good. Now, we don’t have that many Portuguese people with an academic and political career above the froth of the day. My hope for understanding has to do with the future, whatever and wherever it may be. For my part, I cannot help but hope that the commitment and relationship between the institution I preside over, and the cooperative movement, is as good with the new governor as it was with the previous one.

As for the speech, a set of concerns were expressed that are in line with what I have written in our weekly conversation and what we try to implement in Torres Vedras – some of these topics will be discussed briefly by our Strategic Council formed, with our pride, by former ministers of Finance, Economy, Social Security and Higher Education, as well as several leading figures from civil society.

We are in tune with the governor’s priorities for the future of the financial system and the country we want to build – investment in promoting financial literacy, combating fraud and money laundering and regulatory simplification. Various issues that I hope to be able to return to in the coming weeks. On the one hand, the need for literacy that protects us from a certain amorality that has contaminated our time. On the other, the search for new models to combat fraud will depend heavily on the ongoing technological revolution. And, finally, the specificity of cooperative banking that must be considered taking into account respect for the principle of proportionality in this desired regulatory simplification.

The expectation is enormous. To learn more about the BdP’s basic policies, to collaborate with the various powers in the interests of Portugal, to contribute with our experience, our ideas and our uniqueness. We are a bank of capitalized people and not an exclusively capital bank. According to the three pillars, Portugal deserves to have a competitive commercial, solid savings and integrative and social cooperative banking. So that there is no doubt, we defend a cooperative bank close to Germany, Austria and Northern Italy, close to the populations and interested, more than anyone else, in the future of the country. Good luck, dear Professor Álvaro Santos Pereira in defending those who have more of a future than a past, in order to eradicate social and economic asymmetries. Banking can make a decisive contribution to this challenge.

President of the Torres Vedras Mutual Agricultural Credit Bank

manuel.guerreiro@ccamtv.pt

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