LISBON: The three largest private banks operating in Portugal, BCP, BPI and Santander Totta, and the state-owned Caixa Geral de Depósitos turned in aggregate profits of €133 million in the first quarter, 15.4 percent below those of last year.
On Thursday, the single largest player, Caixa Geral de Depósitos, announced losses of €74.2 million for the three-month period through to March against a profit of €2.1 million last year with the swing in fortunes attributed to ‘losses registered in financial operations’. BCP, the largest private bank, saw its net profit slump 33.7 percent to close the quarter on €46.7 million as it continues to pay-off its state bailout and adjust to the post-financial crisis business conditions.
All of the banks are rescaling their operations with significant contractions in their branch networks. For example, Caixa Geral de Depósitos (CGD) slimmed its staffing level by 529 to leave 8,370 employees in the twelve months through to March 2016 whilst shutting 36 branches to leave it with 732 outlets across mainland and archipelago Portugal.
However, there were some brighter spots in the national banking sector with Santander Totta doubling its profits to €114.3 million with around €3 million resulting from the Banif bank that the Spanish entity took over as part of its resolution late last year.
There was also a 48.3 percent surge in profits at BPI with a €37 million contribution from its Angolan subsidiary Banco de Fomento de Angola (BFA) that the bank needs to reduce its exposure to under European Central Bank regulatory stipulations. BPI is also currently contemplating a takeover bid from the Spanish Caixabank.
Furthermore, the results of Novo Banco, the good bank resulting from the resolution of Banco Espírito Santo, have yet to be announced as the consequences of the collapse of the latter continue to echo through both the sector and Novo Banco’s accounting position. The mutualist institution, Montepi, joined those registering losses over the first quarter of last year, declaring a €19.8 million loss explained by the costs incurred in its own restructuring process.
