CGD Profit Hits €1.434 Billion as Home Lending Reaches a Record
Caixa Geral de Depósitos earned €1.434 billion in the first nine months of 2026. Mortgages grew 15% and the youth loan guarantee drove demand.
Caixa Geral de Depósitos (CGD, Portugal’s state-owned bank) made a profit of €1.434 billion from January to September, according to results released on Nov. 5. CNN Portugal and RTP put the rise at 2.5% compared with the same period of 2025, while ECO reported 2.4% and called the figure a record.
Home loans drove much of the growth. Chief executive Paulo Macedo told reporters the bank set a record in mortgage lending, and ECO reported that its housing loan book grew 15%.
Lending up, interest income slightly down
Macedo presented the figures at CGD’s new headquarters in Parque das Nações. He said business volume grew 7%. In its filing with the CMVM (Portugal’s securities market regulator), the bank said lending rose by more than €5.3 billion and customer funds by about €2.2 billion in the nine months.
Net interest income, the money a bank earns on loans minus what it pays on deposits, fell by €20 million to €1.895 billion, a drop of 1.1%. The bank said the extra business only partly offset that decline. It added that interest income had been recovering through 2026, with September closing a third straight quarter of growth.
Fees went the other way. ECO reported that commission income rose 7% to €469 million. CGD said it has not changed its price list for a fourth year in a row and has the lowest fees among its main competitors, so the increase came from more transactions. Operating costs rose 2% to €824 million against banking income of €2.46 billion, ECO said.
What it means for borrowers and savers
Customer loans in Portugal reached about €56.9 billion, up 12% in a year, according to the bank. ECO put the loan book at €57 billion and total business volume (loans plus deposits) at €162 billion, which CGD says is more than 50% of Portugal’s gross domestic product.
The state guarantee for young home buyers played a large part. Chief financial officer António Valente said that since the scheme started at the beginning of last year, CGD has financed €3.1 billion in loans under it, reaching one in three young buyers. The bank has used 89% of its allocation under the guarantee and expects that to reach 95% next month, ECO reported.
On the savings side, the bank said funds and insurance products grew faster than deposits this year. Lending to companies rose 7%, according to ECO.
How the other big banks did
CGD was the last of Portugal’s largest banks to report nine-month results. Together they earned €3.9 billion, roughly the same as a year earlier, ECO reported, with higher interest rates linked to the war in Iran supporting their interest income. CGD’s profit in Portugal alone rose 1% to €1.3 billion, and its international operations also contributed more.
A new headquarters in Parque das Nações
The bank moved this summer from its historic building near Campo Pequeno, which was handed over to the government. Its new home is the WellBe building in Parque das Nações, which cost about €170 million, according to ECO. Macedo said the move was finished on schedule and “within the planned budget.” The new offices have about a third of the space of the old headquarters.
Sources: CNN Portugal, RTP Notícias, ECO
