On the 3^rd and 4^th of November, DDC Financial Group hosted the NPL Management Europe 2021 Conference, in Madrid, and Servdebt was present as Sponsor and with a Speaker.

Hosted in a hybrid format, welcoming both in-person and virtual participants, this conference counted with a line-up of 56 Speakers, “some of Europe's leading distressed investing experts presenting their outlooks and perspectives on global and regional markets”. The points of focus of the several discussion blocks included “current and expected developments on Debt Management issues, NPL Investments & Management, REO, Private Equity & Investment Groups across key regions”.

Bruno Carneiro, Servdebt’s Chief Executive Officer, joined the “NPL Investing & Management in Portugal” panel, as speaker, where he gave an outlook on the future of the NPL´s and the servicing activity, shared his opinion on the difference between UTPs and NPLs portfolios, and exposed the importance of the innovation trend in the Portuguese NPL market and what is already being done by companies.

This panel, that until now counts with more than 200 viewers, sought to answer the following questions:

• Portugal has been one of the most dependent countries on pandemic relief programs with over 20% of total loans under moratoria. The pressure on bank’s balance sheets will increase and NPLs will rise. Is the system equipped to cope and what is the outlook on this market from an investor perspective?
• What can we expect from this market in the near future, in terms of emerging trends and approaches?
• How are local servicers adapting to the post Covid-19 phase of operations?

According to Bruno, even though some challenges are expected, the future of the Portuguese NPL market is optimistic: «If you look to the market, Portugal is a small jurisdiction within Europe, but nevertheless it has activity. […] I think it is common understanding that the NPL ratio will grow to the double of where it is right now. The last number I saw was something around 9%, and we’re coming from a 5%, so it’s a big increase. » Regarding the servicing activity, our CEO recognised that Portugal has a «(…) mature market, even though it’s small, and for the level of transactions we have every year, I think we have a decent servicing landscape.”»

In terms of emerging trends, when asked how he sees innovation in this business, Bruno stated «It’s unavoidable that we need to make changes, to turn things more efficient. I think everybody is participating on those changes, [per example] some tasks which previously were made manually are now automated. » According to Servdebt’s CEO, the pandemic did not had a big impact on the operation, however «(…) it required adaptation, it required news ways to look into the way that we work. (…) People want information faster and want to do it more efficiently. I think it’s a road, we are still on going, but I think it’s adaptable, it’s a market trend: everybody will work to get more digital, more efficient, and to get information faster.»

The NPL Management Europe gathered more than 430 delegates, from 27 countries, featuring banks, servicers, investors, advisors, fund managers, real estate developers and debt collection agencies in the market. As a hybrid event, there were several opportunities to connect online and on site and for networking. , being this one of the most important advantage of  adopting a hybrid approach.