Caixa Geral de Depositos offshore in Macau closes

CGD president Paulo Macedo pictured in Macau

The Portuguese  state-owned banking corporation, and the second largest bank in Portugal, Caixa Geral de Depositos (CGD) has officially closed its offshore branch in the region. The confirmation follows an order from the Chief Executive (CE) published in yesterday’s government Official Gazette, which revokes the executive order number 7/2013 that granted the finance institution the authorization to operate this branch in Macau.

The intention of the CGD to close several of its offshore branches was already acknowledged in July last year when the president of the bank, Paulo Macedo, announced during the presentation of the bank’s half-year results that he intended to close offshore branches  in at least Macau and the Cayman Islands.

At that time, he noted that new deposits were already suspended and clients were being contacted to decide the destination of approximately EURO 350 million (around MOP3.48 billion) which the branch was holding in the clients’ accounts.

CGD is one of the major shareholders of Banco Nacional Ultramarino (BNU), one of the main banks in the region, in addition to being a money issuer  alongside the  Bank of China.

Back in mid-January this year, a similar order from the CE also revoked the authorization for the establishment of an offshore concession to another Portuguese bank – Banco Portugues de Investimento. RM