Banco Nacional Ultramarino (Macau), of Portuguese state financial group Caixa Geral de Depósitos, in 2016 posted a profit of 560.5 million patacas (US$70 million), which represents an annual growth of 9.8%, the bank said in a statement issue don Tuesday.

Announcing the unaudited financial results for 2016, the banks said, “BNU continued to perform well in terms of solvency, liquidity and profitability,” despite the less favourable economic climate experienced in Macau in recent years and increased competition in the banking sector.

The statement notes that the banking sector in Macau has become more competitive, which resulted in the decline of the profit margins of some banking products.

Deposits grew by 2.1% in 2016, while the loan to deposit ratio fell from 53% in 2015 to 51% in 2016, but the average number of bank products per customer increased to 3.49 in 2016, against 3.41 in 2015.

The BNU also announced that revenue from credit cards increased by 3.3%, “as a result of stronger customer loyalty and increase in product cross-selling, (…) in spite of the strong negative impacts caused by the contraction of the tourism and gaming sectors.”

The chief executive of the bank, Pedro Cardoso, in the statement noted the opening the Hengqin Island branch of the bank in the Chinese municipality of Zhuhai, saying that it was an, “innovative step in following our Macau clients to Mainland China, catering for their needs in cross-border financial services, as well as bridging the investments between Mainland China and the Portuguese-speaking countries.”(macauhub)