Millennium Bcp Candidate Eyes Management Stability

By Sergio Goncalves

LISBON (Reuters) - The candidate seen as the frontrunner to be the next chief executive of Millennium bcp (BCP.LS), Portugal's largest listed bank, says his main goal is to bring management stability to the institution.

Carlos Santos Ferreira said he decided to run for the post after receiving the backing of some of the main shareholders in Millennium bcp.

The bank is under investigation by the Bank of Portugal and the stock market regulator for allegedly buying its own shares without proper reporting and irregular loans. The bank denies any wrong doing.

"The first of first priorities will be to bring stability to the bank so that employees can produce the quality of work that will allow Millennium bcp to return to the path of success which it is characterized for," Santos Ferreira told Reuters on Friday.

Santos Ferreira, who has worked with the country's ruling socialist party, will run against Miguel Cadilhe, a former finance minister for the opposition and center-right party PSD.

Cadilhe has criticized his rival for having ties to the government, whom he accuses of interfering with the country's private financial sector.

But Santos Ferreira, who recently resigned as chairman of state-owned bank Caixa Geral de Depositos, denies his move has any political motivations.

"It is public that my list arose from a consensus of a vast group of shareholders and gained the explicit support of others, namely the majority of those (shareholders) that hold a seat in in the bank's senior board," said Santos Ferreira.

The list refers to the managers he plans to take with him to Millennium bcp if he is elected CEO.

According to newspaper reports, Santos Ferreira has the backing of more than 50 percent of Millennium bcp shareholders. A shareholder meeting to elect a new CEO will take place on Jan. 15.

The bank's shares have fallen 5.82 percent since the start of the year and at 1625 GMT traded 0.36 lower at 2.74 euros.

(Reporting by Sergio Goncalves, Translating by Henrique Almeida; editing by Sue Thomas)