Profits of Portugal's top five banks rise 33% to March
The five largest banks operating in Portugal recorded aggregate profits of 1,225.2 million euros in the first three months of the year, up 33.2% compared to the same period last year.
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Economia Banca
Thus, profits from Caixa Geral de Depósitos (CGD), BPI, Millennium BCP, Novo Banco, and Santander Totta grew 305.1 million euros in the first quarter compared to the same period last year.
These results were contributed to by the appreciation of the financial margin -- the difference between interest charged on loans and interest paid on deposits -- which in the three months exceeded 2,397.9 million euros, 19.9% more than in the previous year.
CGD, which presented its results today, achieved the highest profits among those analyzed, with 394.5 million euros, 38.4% more than in the same period of 2023, with its financial margin rising 16.9% to 716.5 million euros.
The public bank announced that it will deliver approximately 770 million euros in dividends to its sole shareholder, the State, in the second quarter of the year, taxes, regulatory costs, and headquarters building rent.
Among the private banks, Santander Totta was the one that presented the highest profits between January and March.
With an increase of 58.4%, Santander Totta's profits reached 294.4 million euros until March, against 185.9 million euros a year earlier. The institution's financial margin increased 64.6% year-on-year to 440.6 million euros.
In the same sense, BCP recorded profits of 234.3 million euros, against 216.1 million euros year-on-year. In the quarter under analysis, the consolidated financial margin rose 4.8%, to 696.2 million euros.
Novo Banco recorded a positive result of 180.7 million euros in the first three months, 21.8% more than in 2023, with its financial margin rising 21.4%, to 299.0 million euros.
BPI saw its profits rise 43.2% in the initial quarter of the year, to 121.3 million euros, while the financial margin of the Caixabank Group institution increased 18.0%, to 245.6 million euros.
Since the European Central Bank (ECB) began to raise key interest rates in mid-2022 to combat inflation, this has had an impact on the increase in bank customer loans indexed to a variable interest rate (mainly Euribor).
This has supported the profits of banks, which have since seen their financial margin benefit from high interest rates on loans and a slow rise in interest rates on deposits.
Read Also: ECB. Banking sector faces "headwinds" in the coming months (Portuguese version)
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