Centeno believes that the banking results in 2023 “balance consecutive years of losses.”

Record banking profits in 2023 were a rebalancing after a series of difficult years, considered the Governor of the Bank of Portugal (BdP), highlighting that the accumulated result of the sector over the past decade is not very sustainable, although positive. On the other hand, Mario Centeno admitted that this had taken a long time, and showed some relief that the increase in interest rates had been transmitted to deposits.

After the series of record results presented by Portuguese banks in 2023, the Governor of the Portuguese Development Bank pointed to the many difficult years experienced by this sector, arguing that the profits of recent years mainly serve to rebalance the accounts. Mario Centeno pointed to the sector's cumulative result of 200 million euros and asked banks to be cautious, given that these results are not likely to be repeated in the near future.

“If we collect all the results of Portuguese banking in the last decade, the overall results indicate a positive balance of 200 million, and this is already taking into account the results of 2023. This is not a sustainable indicator for any banking sector,” he argued. As such, “2023 rebalances successive years of losses.”

“As a BDP governor, I am much more concerned when it comes to when that will be [a banca] He concluded: “The results are negative, not positive.”

Looking ahead, the governor warns that “this cycle will repeat itself” and we will once again see “declining banking results.” Therefore, banks should take advantage of the very positive year to “create cushions or margins to take necessary precautions and prepare for the next cycle.”

It is worth noting that the seven main national banks recorded profits this year of 4,633.9 million euros, compared to 2,761 million euros obtained in 2022.

On the other hand, Centeno highlighted the transmission of monetary policy not only on the credit side, but also on deposits, a source of regular criticism from Portuguese society towards the banking sector – and even from the Portuguese Development Bank itself. If monetary tightening on the financing side was felt quickly in Portugal, especially because of the “very large weight of variable-rate loans” in the system, the process was slower on the deposit side.

“As I have reiterated since the beginning of this benefit cycle, it was very important that this was done [subidas] This is reflected not only in credit, but also in deposits. Fortunately this happened. Maybe he was late […]But the market headed in this direction. “This is the most important thing for us,” the governor concluded.