Portuguese banks may need to halt loan repayments for longer than six months, say CEOs

LISBON (Reuters) - Portugal's biggest banks have suspended repayments on loans worth about 19 billion euros (16.70 billion pounds) for six months to help those hit by the coronavirus crisis and a further extension could prevent a jump in bad loans, chief executives said.The six-month suspension applied to about 190,000 loans so far, the CEOs told parliament on Tuesday and Wednesday, in line with government policy. But concerns about the speed of any economic recovery justified further leniency,..