Latest news and stories about banking in finance in Portugal for expats and residents.
Haitong (formerly BESI) has until the end of April to agree to pay around 200,000 euros to prevent the State from entering its capital. This is due to a mechanism created by the Pedro Passos Coelho government over ten years ago, which allowed banks to be fiscally compensated by the State for...
A defendant in the 'Almocreve' case, investigated by the Porto Judicial Police, allowed a criminal group to move more money.
The investigation indicates that the alleged crimes caused a total loss of 1,799,395 euros to seven foreign companies, with funds diverted into the criminal group's bank accounts.
The webpage provides financial information about Banco Santander, S.A. (SAN), a major banking institution. While it primarily focuses on stock price, news, and historical data, it does not contain specific details about Portugal. However, Banco Santander has a significant presence in Portugal, where it operates as Banco Santander Totta, one of the country's leading banks. The bank's operations in Portugal are part of its broader international footprint, contributing to its financial performance and regional economic impact.
An international network allegedly used national banks to launder money obtained through fraud.
The European Commission launched a public consultation today on the revision of state aid rules for struggling banks in the European Union (EU), aiming to safeguard financial stability and minimise taxpayer exposure.
Interested parties can provide their input until 14 April 2026
Banco de Portugal will eliminate the role of Board of Directors consultants. Mário Centeno, already in Miami for a new professional phase, was the first to agree to his departure, with an early retirement package improved and compensated by Banco de Portugal through the pension fund.
Mário Centeno was a few months away from meeting one of the criteria that would have allowed him to request a 'normal' retirement at the Banco de Portugal, but the process was accelerated by the institution itself after it presented him with a proposal with immediate effect, as first reported by ECO. This meant that, instead of...
It is a tradition for government officials to attack bankers. The Minister of Economy recently did so, showing little memory of what led us to the 2011 crisis.
The Banco de Portugal pension fund that will pay for Mário Centeno's retirement has over 1.6 billion euros in financial assets, mostly invested in public debt, but also in real estate and stocks. These assets covered 105% of its liabilities to beneficiaries, a list that includes...
BPI recorded consolidated profits of 512 million euros in 2025.
Knowing how to manage money should be as basic as knowing how to read or do sums. This is the conviction with which Álvaro Santos Pereira, Governor of the Bank of Portugal and President of the National Council of Financial Supervisors (CNSF), opened the Solemn Session of Financial Education Week this Monday in Lisbon, at the CMVM headquarters. For...
BPI announced this Monday that its sole shareholder, CaixaBank, has approved a dividend of 428 million euros based on last year's results. The bank, led by João Pedro Oliveira e Costa, recorded profits of 512 million euros in 2023, down 13% compared to the previous year, due to...
The major Portuguese banks “presented solid results in the 2025 fiscal year,” which will help navigate the geopolitical and macroeconomic uncertainty expected for this year, DBRS highlighted in an analysis released today. Last year, bank profitability “benefited from significant releases of general provisions, which helped to offset the...”
Portuguese courts continue to spend their time dealing with a group of companies, which is almost always the same, suing customers for unpaid debts, reports Público this Monday (subscription required). Within this group, companies that purchased credit from banks, many of which were already involved in legal proceedings, occupy the top spots.
In Portugal, the banking system continues to fail in channeling financial resources to productive sectors and, above all, to innovative projects. This diagnosis is part of the latest BusinessEurope barometer, which provides an annual assessment of European competitiveness based on feedback from members of BusinessEurope, the largest European business confederation, of which the...
André Ventura, leader of the Chega party, has summoned the Governor of the Bank of Portugal (Banco de Portugal), Álvaro Santos Pereira, to explain a pension agreement for his predecessor. The controversy involves former governor Mário Centeno, who reportedly reached a deal to retire at 59 with a pension nearly equal to his full salary of approximately 20,000 euros per month. Residents should note this follows reports of a “hidden agreement” regarding the early retirement.
André Ventura, born January 15, 1983, is a lawyer, academic, and Portugal's most prominent far-right leader. He founded Chega ("Enough") in 2019 after his PSD mayoral campaign attacked the Romani community. Chega surged from 1.3% in 2019 to 22.8% in May 2025, becoming parliament's second-largest party and making Ventura Leader of the Opposition.
His platform emphasizes immigration restrictions, law-and-order policies, constitutional reform, and contains inflammatory anti-Romani rhetoric that has triggered multiple discrimination convictions and investigations. Politically classified as far-right by international media, Ventura cultivates alliances with European far-right figures including Marine Le Pen and Santiago Abascal.
He announced his 2026 presidential candidacy, polling at 18% alongside independent Admiral Gouveia e Melo. His rise ended Portugal's 50-year resistance to far-right parties.
Mário Centeno is a Portuguese economist and politician who served as Finance Minister from 2015 to 2020 and as President of the Eurogroup from 2018 to 2020, and later became Governor of the Bank of Portugal (Banco de Portugal). His nomination for vice‑president of the European Central Bank matters because a senior Portuguese official at the ECB could influence euro‑area monetary policy decisions that affect interest rates and the economy in Portugal.
Chega ("Enough") is a Portuguese far-right populist party founded in 2019 by André Ventura. It positions itself as an anti-establishment movement against what it calls a "rotten and corrupt system" of PS-PSD dominance. The party surged from 1.3% in 2019 to 22.8% in May 2025, becoming parliament's second-largest force with 60 seats. Chega's core platform emphasizes strict immigration control—ending automatic CPLP residency, deporting non-independent immigrants, implementing job-market quotas, and requiring five-year social security contributions before benefit access. It advocates radical constitutional reform, including reducing parliament to 100 members, abolishing the prime minister position for a presidential system, and dismantling public healthcare. Law-and-order policies include life imprisonment and chemical castration proposals.
The party is defined by inflammatory anti-Romani rhetoric, with Ventura convicted multiple times for discrimination. Chega maintains international alignments with European far-right figures including Marine Le Pen, Santiago Abascal, and Matteo Salvini. Mainstream Portuguese parties, including Prime Minister Luís Montenegro's government, have imposed a cordon sanitaire, refusing coalition with Chega despite its parliamentary strength.
Banco de Fomento plans to place over 20 billion euros in guarantees in the market this year, as stated by the CEO. The initiative comes in response to a slower economy, with a goal to recover losses incurred over the past two years within the next ten months.
One of the issues when switching banks is the change of account number, known as IBAN. The Competition Authority believes this has been a barrier to changing banks and has recommended that the Bank of Portugal examine the feasibility of an account portability solution. The governor agrees. “We will consider ...”
Update: Bank of Portugal to study IBAN portability
The Bank of Portugal has confirmed it will undertake a formal study into IBAN portability, evaluating the technical, legal and operational implications to make switching banks easier for consumers and expatriates. The initiative follows the Competition Authority's recommendation and aims to lower switching costs and boost competition in the banking sector.
Update: Bank of Portugal launches formal study
The Bank of Portugal has formally launched a study to assess the feasibility, costs and necessary regulatory changes for IBAN portability, with particular attention to technical integration, consumer protection and the impact on expatriates. The review will focus on reducing friction in switching, quantifying potential benefits for competition and identifying operational challenges for banks.
The AdC finds that high switching costs and long-standing customer–bank relationships, together with difficulties in comparing offers, deter customers from switching or exploring alternative banks. These frictions create effective barriers to entry for new and smaller banks, reducing competitive pressure in the retail banking market and raising concerns for regulators and policymakers.
Spanish bank Bankinter reported net profit of €1.09 billion for 2025, a 14.4 per cent increase on 2024. Results from its operations in Portugal rose by 7 per cent, helping push group earnings above the €1 billion mark. The performance signals continued earnings momentum for the Spanish financial group across its Iberian footprint.
Despite public reticence from Virgílio Lima, the Mutualist Association has reportedly decided not to reappoint Pedro Leitão as CEO of Banco Montepio after his mandate expired at the end of last year. The bank is said to have settled on José Azevedo Pereira — a former director — as the successor. The move signals a leadership change at Banco Montepio that will shape its strategic direction and investor and member relations going forward.
Thirteen years after the US fund Lone Star used a strategy to monetise a state-backed bank stake in Portugal (Novo Banco) — reportedly pocketing about €5bn while exiting without major penalties — South Korea intervened to stop the same playbook from succeeding at a Korean bank backed by public support. The episode highlights divergent regulatory outcomes across jurisdictions: stronger Korean safeguards and political scrutiny protected the public interest and state budget, while Portuguese arrangements enabled a lucrative, low-accountability exit for a private investor. The contrast underscores how supervision, takeover rules and fiscal exposure shape investor returns and public risk in cross-border bank restructurings.
