Meet our Nordic COO Albertino Neves

We met our Chief Operations Officer and member of the Nordic Executive Committee, Albertino Neves, after his first five months with us to learn more about him and his ambitions.

Welcome, Albertino. Would you like to share a few words about your background and career?

I can reveal that this is not my first experience abroad. As a student, I lived in France for a year thanks to the Eramus programme. Later I had the opportunity to return to France in a professional context, and now I am enjoying this Nordic adventure!

I truly value experiences abroad. It develops you professionally and personally and makes you a more open-minded person. By living this way, I hope to give my children the best example for their future lives.

In terms of career, I have a long track record at BNP Paribas Personal Finance. I joined the Group 27 years ago at Cetelem Portugal in Lisbon, where I quite regularly changed functions in e.g. Operations, Expert Systems, Risk, IT fronts 2001 and CRM before I moved to France to work in the HQ CRM group programme and MARS IT project. When I returned to Portugal in 2007, I took on Collections activity, and later Recovery when I moved to Porto in 2011. In 2016, I switched to Operations and in 2022 this big opportunity came in the Nordics.

When you arrived, what was your first move, and what are your ambitions for Nordic Operations?

My first move was to create a Data analytics department under Operations’ responsibility, and my ambition is to create a transversal team that is data driven and works well together.

What are the most important qualities of a COO and a leader in your opinion?

In relation to being a COO, I would say that the most important quality is to be people oriented. In terms of leadership, I would highlight the ability to create trust and reliability in an holistic view. According to me, this will generate results in the end.

What are the primary benefits of working at BNP Paribas Personal Finance?

Working at BNP Paribas Personal Finance for me is first and foremost being free to choose what do I want to do. Because we cover several areas and different domains. And then I feel secured as we work in a strong and reliable Group.

After five months in the Nordics, what is your first impression?

I like living abroad because I like to learn different things. This position provides an extraordinary opportunity to learn every day about culture, habits, ways to live and work, but also about local regulation, which can become useful knowledge at a later stage in other countries and regions.

One word that comes to my mind about Nordic people is “civic”. Danish, Swedish and Norwegian people are very civic and it is impressive the way they demonstrate this on a daily basis, respect each other and are available to others. And I think that other countries can learn from the Nordic open-minded approach to diversity and a healthy balance between work and private life.

To conclude, would you share something private about yourself, for example what gives you energy?

My energy comes from my family, my friends and the people I work with. Human contact gives me a lot of energy, and the fact that I am surrounded by people every day working and discussing, gives me all the power to face any daily challenge. Music is also an energy booster for me. I enjoy listening to music in the morning in the shower (while sometimes singing): It gives me wings!