Caixa Geral de Depósitos has “obligation” to make €800 million to €1.3Bn per year
The President of State-owned bank Caixa Geral de Depósitos, Paulo Macedo, says the bank has an “obligation” to bring in between €800 million and €1.3Bn in profits per year, ensuring that the bank will enjoy profits “every year” in the next 10 years.
“If there aren’t significant geopolitical changes, Caixa will provide profits every year in the next decade,” Paulo Macedo told the parliamentary Budget, Finances and Public Administration Commission that met on Tuesday at the request of the PCP and PS about changing branches in Portugal’s interior.
Paulo Macedo believes that the public bank has “an obligation to make profits of €800 million to €1.3Bn independent of whether interest rates are at a peak or not. “It has substantial profits because it has a lot of capital,” he said.
If it fails to achieve this level of profitability, it could face problems with the European Central Bank (ECB), he told MPs.
“Does anyone think that the ECB would allow the bank with profits of 3% per annum to show profits of €300 million per annum?” he said.
Macedo also questioned those who considered that making a profit is “negligible”, pointing to some MPs. “If Caixa made profits from 2011 to 2016, perhaps it would have bought Banif and Popular,” adding “In two years Caixa will contribute three billion euros for MPs to decide where to spend it”. Paulo Macedo also refuted that the public bank had a regulatory role in the sector but did admit that it influenced the competition.
“We didn’t hike charges on deposits, and we’ve influenced the others. By not increasing charges for the third year running, we’re influencing the others but we’re not regulators.”