The financial results of Macau banks showed a reduction of 16.3% up to July, according to official data released. The main cause of this decrease was a 37.3% growth in operating costs, which totaled 12.5 billion patacas, equivalent to 1.33 billion euros.
According to the Monetary Authority of Macau (AMCM), the most significant increase occurred in provisions intended to cover potential losses, which doubled, reaching 5.4 billion patacas (575.4 million euros).
This scenario occurred despite non-performing loans in Macau's banking sector declining for the third consecutive month, falling to 46 billion patacas (4.9 billion euros). This amount is considerably below the peak of 57.8 billion patacas (6.17 billion euros) recorded in June 2025.
Overdue loans represented 4.4% of the total loans granted by Macau banks, representing a slight drop of 0.7 percentage points compared to July 2025. However, this percentage rose to 4.7% when analyzing credit directed to entities or individuals outside the Chinese region.
It is important to note that the rate of overdue bank credit in Macau is far from the record of 25.3%, reached in mid-2001 during the global economic crisis caused by the bursting of the internet company speculative bubble.
Even with a 36% increase in interest income—the difference between loan yields and deposit expenses—local banking profits decreased, reaching 12.1 billion patacas (1.29 billion euros).
This contraction occurred even after the AMCM authorized three reductions in the reference interest rate in 2025. The last of these reductions, of 0.25 percentage points, was implemented on December 11, following the policy of the US Federal Reserve.
Loans, which constitute the main source of revenue for the global banking sector, registered a 3.4% drop compared to July 2025, totaling 1.03 trillion patacas (110.2 billion euros). Conversely, deposits in Macau banks grew by 6.4%, reaching 1.48 trillion patacas (157.8 billion euros) at the end of last July, according to the AMCM.
In 2025, Macau banks generated a profit of 7.34 billion patacas (782.9 million euros), almost double the result of the previous year (an increase of 92.7%). The most profitable year for the banking sector in the Chinese special administrative region was 2020, when profits approached 17 billion patacas (1.81 billion euros).
Macau has two currency-issuing banks: the local branch of the Chinese state bank Bank of China and the Overseas National Bank (BNU), which is part of the Caixa Geral de Depósitos Group. BNU reported net profits of 225.3 million patacas (24.2 million euros) in the first half of 2026 on August 12, representing a decrease of 1.3% compared to the same period last year.