Mercantile Lisbon Bank Holdings’s shareholders have given the thumbs-up to the bank dropping “Lisbon” from its name to become simply Mercantile Bank Holdings.
Although the bank is owned by Portuguese bank Caixa Geral de Depositos (CGD), one of Europe’s largest banks, CEO Dave Brown says the bank wants to break away from the image of being a bank exclusively for the Portuguese community.
The name change is part of a major makeover by the bank, which intends to exchange its image for a fresh look to match the new course on which it is embarking. The bank also hopes to return to profitability this year.
After a number of unprofitable years, Mercantile recently had to be recapitalised to the amount of R555-million through a rights offer underwritten by CGD, but Brown says the bank won’t need any more capital in a hurry.
He insists the bank has turned the corner and that its main objective is to work hard towards achieving profitability. Mercantile’s recovery, he believes, will depend on increasing new accounts, containing costs and growing its lending assets.
“I truly believe that if we achieve these goals, we’ll return to profitability this year,” he says.
Signs of the turnaround are evident in the banks results for 2004. While the group reported a R213-million loss for the year, the results included a R172,7-million impairment.
The bank’s name will officially change on April 11. — I-Net Bridge