Antônio Cotrim / Lusa
Paulo Macedo, president of the Executive Committee of Caixa Geral de Depósitos
The increase in profits riding on the rise in interest rates will also lead to an increase in dividends paid to bank shareholders.
The four main banks in Portugal — Caixa Geral de Depósitos (CGD), BCP, BPI and Santander Portugal — are forecasting a significant increase in dividends to be distributed in 2025, reaching approximately 2.9 billion eurosrelating to 2024 profits.
This amount, calculated by , is higher than the R$2.4 billion delivered in 2023 and reflects the improving financial results driven by the rise in interest rates promoted by the European Central Bank to contain inflation, which increased the financial margin of institutions.
To calculate this value, Negócios considered two approaches. On the one hand, CGD and BPI have already indicated that the dividends distributed in 2025 will be similar to this year, maintaining the value of 825 million euros for CGD and 517 million euros for BPI.
In the case of BPI, 65% of profits in Portugal and 100% of operations in Angola and Mozambique are distributed, following the bank’s policy, while CGD allocates a value close to 825 million eurosalthough the State Budget foresees a lower net amount.
For BCP, a payment of 50% of profits is estimated, which could reach 470 million euros, considering an increase of 9.7% in results, in a final value close to 940 million euros in 2024. The bank it also plans a share buyback that could add more than 200 million euros to shareholders’ earnings, totaling around 700 million.
Santander Portugal, which showed profit growth of 25.2% in the first nine months of 2024, forecasts an annual result of around 1.3 billion euros. With an estimated payout of 80%, the Portuguese branch can deliver more than a billion euros to the mother house in Spain.
Although the absolute amount to be distributed to shareholders in 2025 is greater than in the previous year, the proportion of profits allocated to dividends will fall from 66% to around 62.4%with the banks’ combined profits potentially reaching €4.6 billion.
