Banco Nacional Ultramarino (BNU) posted MOP423.5 million (US$53 million) in profits in the first nine months of 2016, a 9 per cent increase year-on-year, according to the company’s balance sheet as published by the Official Gazette.
According to news agency Lusa, the bank’s turnover increased by 13.7 per cent year-on-year between January and September of this year, reaching 8.8 billion euros (MOP77.8 billion/US$9.7 billion).
Speaking to the news agency, the CEO of BNU, Pedro Cardoso, stated that the number of customers of the bank had increased by 5 per cent year-on-year to nearly 222,000, accounting for nearly a third of the city’s population.
According to the CEO, the bank’s loans increased by 2.9 per cent year-on-year for the period, which is a lower growth compared to the past, while credit growth expanded by double digits due to the impact upon the local economy by the decreased gross gaming revenue of the past two years.
“In recent years, the drivers of the growth [in loans] were small and medium enterprises (SMEs). In the current local market, there has been lower demand which affected [growth]”, Mr. Cardoso told Lusa.
The BNU CEO also considered that since gross gaming revenues had reverted to positive growth since August the economy had shown positive signs such as an increase in mortgage credit.
Hengqin branch
Mr. Cardoso also stated that BNU’s new branch on Hengqin Island is almost completed and ready to open. “[The branch] is fully equipped, while the standards and procedures are ready and we have received the authorisation of the Macau Government”, he stated, adding that a ‘soft opening’ is slated for December with a formal opening at the beginning of 2017.
BNU results accounted for 43 per cent of the international activity of its Portugal-based parent company Caixa Geral de Depósitos (CGD) in 2015, with the banking institution among the three largest Portuguese banks or holdings abroad in terms of results and assets, Lusa reported.
According to a company release in the Official Gazette, the CGD branch in Macau registered MOP4.1 million in profit for the first nine months of 2016, down 40 per cent year-on-year when compared to the MOP6.9 million registered in the same period of last year.
