Thus, the cumulative profits of Caixa Geral de Depósitos (CGD), Santander Totta, Millennium BCP, Novo Banco, and BPI fell by 10.6 million euros compared to a year ago.
This trend continued to be influenced by the development of the financial margin, which refers to the difference between the interest charged on loans and the interest paid on deposits and amounted to 4.425 billion euros in these five banks during the first six months.
Compared to the same period last year, this is 349 million euros less, or 7.31%.
Among the five banks, BPI and Santander saw their profits decrease by 16% and 8%, respectively, to 274.5 million euros and 503.9 million euros.
The explanation given by their presidents was related to the reduction in financial margins and the impact of lower interest rates.
Profits at BPI fell by 16% in the first half of the year on a year-on-year basis to 274.5 million euros due to a decline in the financial margin, the bank announced today.
Lusa | 11:46 – 31/07/2025
The profits of Novo Banco increased by 17.5% to 434.9 million euros, also bolstered by the base effect caused a year ago by costs related to the headquarters move (30 million euros).
With more modest growth, the BCP saw an increase of 3.5%, reaching 502.3 million euros. This profit was supported by an increase of 146.6 million euros in international activity, despite constraints related to Swiss franc loans.
BCP’s profits totaled 502.3 million euros in the first half of the year, an increase of 3.5% compared to the same period last year, it was announced today.
Lusa | 17:44 – 30/07/2025
In the public bank, the increase of 0.44% to 893.2 million euros was partly due to the reversal of provisions and impairments, which accounted for a relief of 142 million euros compared to last year’s results.
The monetary policy for inflation control after the COVID-19 pandemic, exacerbated by the Russian invasion of Ukraine, fulfilled its purpose, with the rate measuring consumer price variation remaining at 2.0% in July, according to Eurostat, aligned with the European Central Bank’s (ECB) target.
As observed at the end of the first quarter, and with the easing of interest rates, the financial margins reflect this development, declining in four of the five banks – with the exception being, once again, BCP.
Up until June, BCP’s financial margin grew by 3.3%, reaching 1.444 billion euros, driven by activity in Poland. In the other banks, only Novo Banco saw a decrease of less than 10% (6.1%).
In the first half, financial margins of BPI and CGD fell by 10.1% and 10.0%, respectively, to 1.284 billion euros and 442 million euros, while Santander recorded a decline of 19.3%, to 695.7 million euros.
And what about employees? And agencies?
Regarding employees and agencies, the five largest banks in Portugal had 25,375 employees and 1,829 branches nationwide. Year-on-year, there were 26 fewer employees and eight fewer branches.
By the end of June, Millennium BCP was the bank with the most employees (6,224), followed by CGD (5,992), Santander (4,673), BPI (4,354), and Novo Banco (4,132).
Year-on-year, there were decreases in the number of employees at Novo Banco (-107), CGD (-75), and BCP (-50) and increases at BPI (99) and Santander (107).
In terms of branches, these banks had 1,829 spaces at the end of the semester, a net reduction of eight.
Caixa remained at the same 512 as a year ago, Novo Banco increased by one to 291, while both BCP and Santander Totta reduced their spaces in Portugal by two, to 396 and 327 respectively. BPI had 303 spaces on June 30, five fewer than on the same date in 2024.
Caixa Geral de Depósitos (CGD) announced today it achieved the best performance in the eurozone in the stress test conducted by the European Banking Authority (EBA), similar to the previous year in 2023.
Lusa | 20:38 – 01/08/2025
