3 November 2009 - Portuguese state-run bank Caixa Geral de Depositos (CGD) saw its net profit fall by 23.3% in annual terms to EUR335.1m (USD495.8m) in January to September 2009, the bank told bourse regulator CMVM on Monday.

The drop was mainly attributed to the EUR33m loss at the bank's healthcare business.

CGD registered a EUR368.8m profit in the banking segment alone, down 3.7% on the year, while net interest income declined by 18.4% to EUR1.36bn.

The bank's net commissions however increased by 9.6% to EUR336.7m.

CGD enjoyed more than 18 times growth in its income from financial operations, which reached EUR241m, as the global financial markets have been recovering.

However, its profit from operations abroad dropped by 20.4% to EUR60.3m.

Total operating costs grew by 5.5% to EUR1.39bn, leading to an increase in cost-to-income ratio to 57.9% from 51.9%.

The bank extended EUR78.58bn in credits in the first three quarters of the year, up 5.9%, and customer funds went up by 6.1% to EUR69.8bn.