Montepio Geral offshore bank returns to losses in 2020
According to data from the institution, the offshore bank owned in Cabo Verde by Portuguese group Montepio Geral returned to losses in 2020 of €620,000.
The offshore bank owned in Cabo Verde by Portuguese group Montepio Geral returned to losses in 2020 of €620,000, for the fourth time in five years, according to data from the institution seen by Lusa on Friday.
According to the report and accounts of Banco Montepio Geral (MG) Cabo Verde, set up in the archipelago in 2005 and 100% owned by Caixa Económica Montepio Geral – being one of four that operate with a restricted license, only for non-resident customers and therefore considered offshore – ended 2020 with total assets of €116.53 million, down 20.7% compared to 2019.
Customer resources, meanwhile, according to the report and accounts, stood at €108.46 million in the same period, a year-on-year drop of 21.6%.
After losses of €13,400 in 2016, more than €93,000 in 2017 and €432,000 in 2018, the institution posted positive results of €146,000 in 2019 but returned to losses of €620,000 in 2020.
In 2015, the bank recorded profits of more than €1.2 million.
The 2020 performance is explained by the management, in the report and accounts, with the need to “reinforce impairment for credit risks” to other banks, amounting to €860,000. Without this “negative effect”, the board said that the bank would have posted a positive result of €240,000 last year.
Like all other banks operating in the archipelago (in addition to the four with a restricted licence, there are still seven with a generic licence), MG Cabo Verde did not distribute dividends in 2019 to prevent the economic consequences of the Covid-19 pandemic. The bank also failed to distribute dividends in 2016, 2017 and 2018 and carried over last year’s losses to the 2021 accounts.
In 2020, the bank’s equity fell by 7.3% to €7.87 million, “influenced by the unfavourable development of the negative net result for the year”, according to management.
The bank’s operating income totalled €720,000, an increase of 6.5% compared to 2019.
The share capital of Banco MG Cabo Verde currently stands at €8,996,508, which Portugal’s Caixa Económica Montepio Geral wholly owns.
