Praia, May 22, 2025 (Lusa) - Cabo Verde maintains the same four banks classified as "systemically important", subject to the constitution of a conservation reserve to absorb any impacts, in accordance with their importance, the regulator announced on Thursday.
According to the assessment updated today by the Bank of Cabo Verde (bcv), Caixa Económica de Cabo Verde (CECV) and Banco Comercial do Atlântico (BCA, Caixa Geral de Depósitos group) remain the two banks of "high systemic importance."
They are followed by Banco Cabo Verdeano de Negócios (BCN) and Banco Interatlântico (also part of the CGD group), which remain banks of "minor importance".
Banco Angolano de Investimentos (BAI), International Investment Bank (IIB) and Ecobank were classified as "not systemically important".
However, BAI "appears for the first time, after its inaugural classification in 2024", with a score that classifies it as a bank of "slight systemic importance".
According to the BCV's criteria, reclassification will only occur if "for two consecutive years it maintains an average score between 95 and 150 points".
According to regulations published in 2024, the central bank will now disclose by 31 May each year the credit institutions classified as “domestic systemically important banks” (D-SIBs).
The classification is calculated using data from 31 December of the previous year, based on four indicators: size (35%), interconnectedness (20%), substitutability (35%) and domestic sentiment (10%).
In this update, Caixa Económica was classified with 297.85 points (previously 284.88 points) and BCA with 260.46 (265.11 a year ago), exceeding the 200 points above which institutions are considered “domestic banks of high systemic importance”.
Entities between 150 and 200 points are "domestic banks of moderate systemic importance", but there are none in this range, followed by the group of 95 to 150 points, "domestic banks of slight systemic importance", which includes BCN with 127.43 points (117.38 previously) and Interatlântico with 97.76 (96.68 points a year ago).
Banks below 95 points are considered to be of no systemic importance, as is the case with IIB (up from 87.54 to 92.02 points) and Ecobank (down from 57.41 to 56.13 points).
BAI rose this year from 87.95 to 97.74 points and, if it returns to above 95 points next year, it will be classified as a "domestic bank of slight systemic importance".
Like other jurisdictions around the world, the BCV introduced a capital conservation buffer with this assessment to ensure that banks build up enough capital during good times to absorb losses when times are tough.
All domestic banks identified as D-SlBs are subject to establishing a conservation buffer based on their classification.
This type of measure was particularly promoted at global level after the 2007-2009 financial crisis to prevent difficulties in large institutions with significant influence on the markets - what is known as systemic importance.
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