Mozambique: Profits of three largest banks fell more than 31% in 2024

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Mozambique: Profits of three largest banks fell more than 31% in 2024

11:02 CAT | 23 Jun 2025

File photo: Lusa

Of all Mozambican banks, Standard Bank made the most profit in 2024, but, overall, the country’s three largest banks saw their net profits fall by 31.4% to €214 million last year.

According to data compiled by Lusa on Monday from the recently approved reports and accounts of the three banks, Standard Bank, with South African capital, Banco Comercial e de Investimentos (BCI) and Millennium BIM, both with Portuguese capital, had recorded record profits of 22.583 billion meticais (€312 million) in 2023.

However, the net results of the country’s three ‘systemic’ banks fell to 15.482 billion meticais (€214 million) in 2024, according to the same data.

Standard Bank dethroned BCI as the most profitable in 2024, but still fell almost 15% in one year, to 6.134 billion meticais (€84.7 million).

BCI, owned by the Portuguese bank Caixa Geral de Depósitos, saw its profits fall by more than 26%, to 6,039 million meticais (€83.4 million), while those of Millennium BIM, owned by the Portuguese bank BCP, fell by 54%, to 3,309 million meticais (€45.7 million).

Millennium BIM and BCI confirmed that they will not distribute dividends to shareholders in 2024, instead investing them in reserves, while Standard Bank proposed distributing 3.68 billion meticais (€50.8 million) in dividends, half the amount for 2023.

BCI, the largest Mozambican bank in terms of key indicators, with 2,712 employees, justified its 2024 performance “by the 127.1% increase in impairment and provision costs”, which is a “reflection of the prudence adopted” in “covering assets exposed to credit risk and sovereign risk”.

“This approach was largely due to the impacts of the adverse post-election context, including the prospect of a downgrade in the country’s rating,” BCI’s annual report explains.

With a share capital of 10 billion meticais (€138 million), BCI’s shareholder structure is led (51%) by Caixa Participações, part of the Caixa Geral de Depósitos (CGD) group, with the Portuguese bank BPI (35.67%) and also directly by CGD (10.51%), among others.

Standard Bank explained that its performance was conditioned by “weak economic activity”, as well as the reduction in interest rates, the scarcity of foreign currency, the low demand for credit and the high mandatory reserve ratio decided by the central bank.

Standard Bank Moçambique is a private bank established in 1967, headquartered in Maputo – but whose activity in the country dates back to 1894 – and whose parent company and majority shareholder is Stanbic Africa Holdings Limited, an investment bank established in the United Kingdom that holds a stake equivalent to 98.15% of the share capital.

On the other hand, Millennium BIM stated that the drop in profits in 2024 is “essentially explained by the increase in impairments and provisions”.

“Reflecting the increase in impairments for public debt,” explains BIM in its 2024 report and accounts, stating that impairments on public debt securities increased by 2.1 billion meticais (€29.2 million) in the last year, “following the downward review of the rating for government issues in national currency”.

BIM began operating in October 1995, as a result of a strategic partnership between Banco Comercial Português (Millennium BCP) and the Mozambican state.

As of 31 December 2024, it had a share capital of 4.5 billion meticais (€62.6 million), the majority of which was held by BCP África (Millennium BCP group), with a 66.69% stake, followed by the State of Mozambique (17.12%), the Mozambican National Social Security Institute (4.95%) and the Mozambican Insurance Company (4.15%), among other shareholders.

There are 15 commercial banks and 12 micro-banks operating in Mozambique, in addition to various other credit cooperatives and savings and credit organisations.

Source: Lusa