BPI profit falls 7% to 363 million euros as total credit grows 9%

Profit falls on one-off items

Banco BPI reported a net profit of 363 million euros for the first nine months of 2026, 7% below the same period of 2025, which equals 26 million euros less. The bank attributes most of the decline to two non-recurring effects. In the 2025 comparison period it had booked an 18 million euro gain from reversing contributions to the Solidarity Additional tax on the banking sector, paid in earlier years. In June 2026 an accounting reclassification of its stake in BCI in Mozambique carried a negative impact of 35 million euros.

Activity in Portugal contributed 344 million euros, 5% less than a year earlier. Excluding the one-off effects, the bank says recurring profit in Portugal held steady, and the return on recurring tangible equity there reached 14.9% over the last 12 months. The stakes in BFA (Angola) and BCI together contributed 20 million euros, including the reclassification hit.

Lending grows while profit dips

Total credit rose 9% year on year, an increase of 3.1 billion euros. Housing loans grew 12%, although reports give different totals, with 18.6 billion euros in one and 20.1 billion euros for housing credit in another. Corporate lending rose 10% to 13.3 billion euros. Customer resources grew 7%, adding 3 billion euros, led by investment funds and capitalisation insurance, which rose 17%.

Total credit9%

Housing loans12%

Corporate loans10%

Customer resources7%

Investment funds and capitalisation insurance17%

Total credit

9 %

Housing loans

12 %

Corporate loans

10 %

Customer resources

7 %

Investment funds and capitalisation insurance

17 %

Data from the article text

Net interest income reached 665 million euros, up 1%, which the bank linked to higher market rates in the third quarter. Commissions rose 8%, and the CEO said this reflected business growth rather than higher fees. Costs rose 5% to 404 million euros, mainly because of higher staff costs, and the cost-to-income ratio stood at 43%. At the end of September the CET1 ratio was 13.8% and the total capital ratio 17.1%.

Public guarantee and youth mortgages

The bank has used 324 million euros of its public guarantee allocation for young buyers of a first home. Sources differ on the ceiling: one report gives an allocation of 550 million euros, while RTP describes a limit of 500 million euros. Administrator Francisco Matos said the approved limit was effectively used at 324 million euros, with operations contracted. Oliveira e Costa said that if there is more absorption capacity, BPI would keep using the scheme. Under the public guarantee the bank signed 9,700 youth housing contracts worth 2.1 billion euros.

Housing policy call

Oliveira e Costa called the housing crisis urgent and said Portugal needs 50,000 new homes a year. He argued that industrialising construction would make building cheaper and faster, and that several Portuguese companies are large enough to do it. He called for concerted action from opposition parties, the government, municipalities and the private sector, and said the government should convene the main players to draw up a short plan. He dismissed rehabilitation as a route to the target.

“Housing must be a national goal and one of the country's first priorities.”

“It is very different to build than to rehabilitate.”

Staffing and training

Headcount rose to 4,650, 220 more than a year earlier. The bank hired 227 young people in the first nine months, and the share of the youngest age groups in its workforce rose from 6% to 17% between December 2021 and September 2026. Between 2022 and 2026 it hired 825 young people. PÚBLICO reported that the bank treats higher staff costs as a way to renew its workforce ahead of retirements, avoiding early-retirement schemes. All employees will receive artificial intelligence training with Escola 24. The volunteering programme ran 257 initiatives up to September, reaching more than 22,000 people.