BNU secures position as strongest contributor to CGD

Portuguese state bank Caixa Geral de Depósitos (CGD) recorded a profit of EUR 3.4 million in the period from January to September, the bank said in a statement. The profit for the first three quarters denotes a decrease of 92 percent when compared with the January-September period of 2014.
The statement said that the bank’s units, located in Africa and Asia, had seen the best performance. These banks included BNU Macau, Mozambique’s BCI and Banco Caixa Totta of Angola. The combined performance of the three units added EUR 80.1 million to the accounts of the CGD for the first three quarters of 2015.
However, Macau’s Banco Nacional Ultramarino (BNU) was the business unit that contributed the most to overall accounts; it added EUR 45.8 million between January and September 2015 – almost double the French branch which provided EUR 28.9 million for the same period.
CGD explained that the sharp decline is due to the irregular profit registered in 2014 – itself the result of the sale of holdings in insurance companies Fidelidade, Cares and Multicare.
“Earnings in the first nine months of 2014 were higher due to non-recurring factors, such [as] the sale of holdings in insurance companies,” the statement revealed. CGD retains a 15 percent stake in Fidelidade, and 20 percent of both Cares and Multicare.
The sales raised EUR 278.9 million for CGD – turning what would have been a loss of EUR 232.6 million into a profit of EUR 46.3 million. Staff Reporter