Our country’s seven largest banks – CGD, BCP, Santander Totta,

Novobanco, BPI, Banco Montepio, and Crédito Agrícola – recorded profits of 5.5 billion euros last year, a national record that should make any shareholder happy.

What’s worse are the customers, who groaned all year at higher rates, lower interest on deposits, and the countless commissions charged.

In other developed countries, where there is real competition, the banks give their customers various benefits.

In Portugal, they are the ones who can exploit the market the most without serious regulation.

In an act of conscience, the national regulator, Mário Centeno, has scolded the banks, warning them “to reflect on the return they give on the Portuguese people’s savings.”

The fact is that banks receive 2.5% interest when they invest Portuguese savings with the European Central Bank but pay less than 2% to customers who deposit money there.

“It’s not very understandable,” argues the governor, adding that the banks have an ‘obligation’ to guarantee the ‘trust’ of their clients.

Business is business, and private individuals can manage their assets as they see fit.

But in this specific case, regulation is precisely to prevent speculation and cartelization, and any country’s financial system is delicate, to the point where citizens have already shelled out large sums to save the banks.

But one thing is business, and another is greed… the Portuguese way!

THE TERRY PHENOMENON!

Pico has been in fashion for some time now. The tourist potential is praised by everyone, and rightly so.

But the people of Pico have made this path to success with enormous patience and endurance, just like the historical epic of the whalers.

The social, entrepreneurial, and cultural dynamics of various sectors of activity in Pico are notable. A number of prominent personalities lead numerous initiatives, some of them with a selfless volunteerism that is no longer seen elsewhere.

One of these honorable examples in the cultural field has a face and a name: Terry Costa. He was born in Oakville, Canada, but grew up on the island of Pico, where he attended the Externato da Madalena for several years.

He acted in more than 50 plays and staged many more, gained prestige in Canadian cultural circles, and went to Pico to found Mirateca Arts to promote the culture of our islands in symbiosis with his international knowledge.

As he says, from the small town of Mirateca, in the parish of Candelária, in the municipality of Madalena, he has hosted around 3,000 artists from all corners of the country and the world, putting Pico and the Azores on the map of the artistic and cultural world.

His work has just been rewarded at the Iberian Festival Awards with the Excellence Award for Personality of the Year, “recognition of his exceptional impact and leadership in the industry.”

It’s just one more example of how, here at home, facing so many difficulties due to the chronic lack of a cultural policy in the region, he is recognized abroad by those who look closely and fairly at the work of our people.

He contradicts the old Portuguese saying that homegrown saints don’t perform miracles. He certainly has.

Congratulations Terry!

Editorial Diário dos Açores on March 23 of 2025

Osvaldo Cabral is the Executive Director of Diário dos Açores.

NOVIDADES will feature occasional opinion pieces from various leading thinkers, writers, and editorial boards from the Azores to give the diaspora and those interested in the current Azores a sense of the significant opinions on some of the archipelago’s issues.

Translated to English as a community outreach program from the Portuguese Beyond Borders Institute (PBBI) and the Modern and Classical Languages and Literatures Department (MCLL).