10/03/2017 (Agence Europe) – On Friday 10 March, the European Commission announced that it considered Portugal's plans to increase the own funds position of the public bank Caixa Geral de Depósitos (CGD) by €3.9 billion to be in line with EU rules on State aid. Portugal has established that the bank required additional own funds, mainly due to the insufficient level of reserves for losses on loans. To remedy this, Lisbon decided on a procedure in two stages. During the first stage, which ended in January, Portugal transferred its stake of 49% in Parcaixa, one of the subsidiaries of the bank, to CGD for a book value in the region of €0.5 billion. It also converted the debt instruments it held in CGD, to a total value of around €0.9 billion. In the second stage, Portugal will acquire new ordinary shares in CGD for a total of €2.5 billion. (EL)