Fall in margin causes BPI’s profit to drop 13% in 2025

BPI posted profits of €512 million in 2025, down 13% from the previous year. The result was pressured by a 10% drop in net interest income, despite an increase in turnover. The Portuguese bank led by João Pedro Oliveira e Costa is preparing to pay a dividend of €428 million to Spanish shareholder Caixabank.

Credit increased by 7% and customer funds (including deposits) rose by 9%. Even so, the normalisation of interest rates led the bank’s margin to fall to €875 million, almost €100 million less than in the previous year. “We are already seeing a levelling off in the fall in rates. I believe we will stay where we are now”, explained João Pedro Oliveira e Costa, the bank’s CEO, at the press conference on the annual results. “We are at 2%, and we believe we will stay between this figure and 2.3%”, he added later.

Net commissions also fell 6% to €307 million. In other net income, the bank reports €18 million coming in from the reversal of the solidarity surcharge by the Constitutional Court. All this caused banking income to fall 8% to €1.29 billion.

In Portugal, net income fell by 4% to €489 million. The contribution from Angola’s BFA increased by 4% to €43 million. Mozambique’s BCI contributed €20 million, half of the previous year’s figure, due to impairments recorded as the country’s risk rating worsened.

Public guarantee boosts home loans

In mortgage lending, new operations reached €3.9 billion, up 35% on 2024, with the bank explaining that it took advantage of the public guarantee for young people to increase its market share. In the public sector, the bank granted €1.1 billion through 5,600 contracts with young people.

In corporate lending, the portfolio increased by 3% to €12.4 billion, which nevertheless did not prevent a loss of market share.

As for resources, they totalled 7% in terms of deposits (€32.5 billion) and 18% in off-balance sheet resources (€11.2 billion).

242 more employees

The bank also highlights that it managed to contain the increase in costs. These rose 4% to €508 million, causing the cost-to-income ratio to rise from 37% in 2024 to 42% in 2025. “It was a control at the level of inflation”, Oliveira e Costa stressed.

Personnel costs rose to €259 million, up almost 5% year-on-year.

At the end of last year, the institution had 4,476 employees, 242 more than it had a year earlier. The bank hired more staff, but fewer people left. The cost of early retirement and voluntary redundancies amounted to just €1 million, compared to €65 million in 2024.

Bank pays dividend of 428 million euros

Regarding the dividend, which still has to be approved by shareholders at the general meeting, João Pedro Oliveira e Costa revealed that it will be in the order of 428 million euros. “I believe it will be very close to that amount. The ratios at 14% are fine. And I see no need to pay less”, he explained to journalists.

The bank’s dividend policy corresponds to the delivery of 100% of actual results in Angola and Mozambique and 75% of domestic net income, the manager also clarified.

Revenue from the sale of BFA arrives this year

Bank officials had previously explained that the impact of the more than €100 million cash inflow from the sale of a nearly 15% stake in BFA will only be felt this year.

Supervisory rules stipulate that BPI can only “benefit when the money is transferred to Portugal”, as explained by financial administrator Susana Trigo Cabral.

The process of transferring the proceeds to Portugal “will take time” due to the shortage of dollars in Angola, she said three months ago. However, she assured that the approximately €100 million will be transferred here throughout this year.