Novo Banco Promotes Mark Bourke as Next CEO

Portuguese lender Novo Banco said that its general and supervisory board had decided to promote its CFO Mark Bourke to the chief executive role, succeeding current CEO António Ramalho, subject to approval from supervisors in the Bank of Portugal and the European Central Bank (ECB).

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Novo Banco said the board "considered Mark Bourke as the ideal candidate", highlighting his over 20 years of senior executive experience in regulated financial institutions and the knowledge he has gained on the company and Portuguese market over the past three years.

The board "also noted that the appointment of an internal candidate ensures continuity, stability as well as alignment of the [bank's] recently approved strategic medium-term plan", it said in a statement.

Mr Bourke served as chief financial officer of AIB between 2014 and 2019 and was a key figure in the bank's return to the main Dublin and London stock markets in 2017, when the Government raised €3.8 billion from the sale of a 28.8 per cent stake. He was succeed at AIB by Donal Galvin.

Prior his time with AIB, Mr Bourke, a PwC-trained chartered accountant and tax partner by background, served for eight years as chief executive of then Dublin-listed financial services group IFG.

Mr Bourke's role as chief financial officer at Novo Banco is set to be backfilled by Leigh Bartlett, who has been chief executive of UK challenger lender Masthaven Bank for the past two years.

Novo Banco chairman Byron Haynes said the board believed that Mr Bourke and his team "will successfully deliver the next stage of Novo Banco's development, competing as a strong and independent Portuguese corporate and retail bank".