news
October 29, 2021
Servdebt sponsored the 3rd edition of the Global NPL conference
The 3rd edition of the Global NPL conference, hosted by SmithNovak, took place, between the 5th and the 7th of October, and Servdebt was once again present, this time as Standard Sponsor.
“After a global slow-down in transactions and with banks now expected to resolve legacy loans ahead of a spike in Covid-related defaults (…)” this conference reunited 85 panellists, throughout 16 hours of content, with 14 sessions and 10 presentations, to discuss the “new phase of portfolio transactions that is anticipated to begin”.
Bruno Carneiro, our Chief Executive Officer, was a speaker at the panel focused on the Portuguese Market, and shared his insightful views on the Portuguese market evolution, the NPL’s performance during the crisis, and gave an outlook on the future of the NPL´s and the servicing activity.
This panel, that counted with around 210 viewers, sought to answer the following questions:
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In September, moratoria will finally end in Portugal after 14 months of loan repayment freezing. What is the likely impact of such a long pause? Will there be a “no drama”, as a CEO of one important bank has stated? Or will the NPL problem be exacerbated?
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The NPL ratio is expected to rise from 5% in 2020 to around 9% once moratoria are relaxed. Is there servicing capacity to meet the demand? What specialised new skills will be required?
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Has a Secondary market already developed in Portugal?
When asked about what happened with performance and the servicing activity during the “Covid-19 crisis”, Bruno stated that «In overall, I don’t think we had the impact we were initially considering. (…) In 2021, I think we’re pretty much back to normal, which is, in some cases, a bit surprising. Back in 2020, we were working, with the prevision of a worsening impact scenario which did not materialize. If we look to the market now, we’re starting to see deals coming up again ; Hence, I think that slowly, things have returned to a pre-pandemic normality, even though the impact has not been similar over all the asset classes that we manage.»
Regarding the future of the Portuguese market, according to Bruno, what will happen will depend on several factors, such as the impact of the NPL, or the recovery of the economy: «I don’t think this year we will see a very busy year in transactions, maybe we will see a couple more coming to the market but not more than that. What will happen next year and ahead will really depend on the impact of the pandemic, on how many loans will be default and how much will the NPL ratio grow. I have no doubt that the NPL ratio will grow, and I think everyone can agree; the big question marks are “How much it will grow?” and “Where will it grow?”. Thus, we need to wait to see how the market will behave. »
Having gathered around 600 delegates, from 250 companies, from 33 countries, featuring banks, investors, servicers, advisors and innovators in the market; this edition of the Global NPL conference was an “opportunity to gain valuable brand exposure and to meet high-quality new business partners operating in the global NPE market”.