An official source from the Ministry of Labour, Solidarity and Social Security told Lusa news Agency: “The status of the company under restructuring was granted to Caixa Económica - Montepio Geral in the period up to September 2023 and up to a maximum of 400 workers, after analysis by the Social Security Institute and IAPMEI and after consultation with the community partners and the Association Portuguesa de Bancos”.

It wasalready known that Montepio would go ahead with an “expanded plan” for the redundancies, according to the National Union of Banking Technical Staff, the Union of Northern Bankers and the Independent Banking Union, which met on 23 September.

In a statement, the three unions revealed, on that day, that they met with the chairman of Banco Montepio’s executive committee, Pedro Leitão, who “presented a restructuring project that includes an extended plan for early retirements and terminations of employment contracts by mutual agreement”, but without quantifying at the time how many employees would be leaving the bank.

Portuguese banks are preparing a new reduction of structures, with the departure of workers, using cost cuts as a measure to face the current crisis, the low profitability and the digitalisation of operations.