Banks pay shareholders €1.15Bn

Portugal’s largest banks are preparing to deliver their shareholders – basically to Spanish shareholders and the Portuguese State – a total of €1.15Bn in dividends, corresponding to 40% of the profits obtained for 2022 on the back of increased interest rates.

In relation to 2022, shareholders bagged 33% more than in 2021, even through out of the five main banks in Portugal, two make no payouts: Novobanco which is prohibited from doing so because of the contingent capital agreement which is valid until 2025, despite the bank enjoying record profits of €560.8 million last year; and BCP which while posting positive results of €207.5 million, preferred to freeze the dividend taking into account the uncertainty that it faces in the Polish market due to mortgage loans it made in Swiss francs.
In any case, profits from the five banks reached €2.582 million in 2022, the best results for some years. It means that for every €100 of profit, €44 will be paid out to shareholders from just three banks – Santander Totta (€508 million), BPI (€285million)(+€85 million in Q1, 2023) – these profits going to these banks head offices in Spain – and public bank Caixa Geral de Depósitos which enjoyed profits of €843 million last year, close to the record profits of €856 million obtained in 2007, with a dividend for the State of €352 million.
Caixa is also preparing to hand over its headquarters building in Lisbon as a dividend in kind to the government which will relocate several government ministries to the iconic CGD HQ building on Lisbon’s Avenida de João XII.
The value of the building is still being ascertained, but is expected to be worth over €300 million.