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Portugal · EU member

Banco de Portugal

Banco de Portugal · Central bankSelective

55Activity Indexmethodology →

Employees

1,687

· whole institution

FY2025

Annual budget

€222m

· operating expenditure (whole institution)

FY2025

Supervised entities

≈6,360

· entities licensed under covered frameworks (approx.)

FY2025

Overview

Banco de Portugal is Portugal's central bank and the prudential and conduct supervisor for the country's credit institutions, financial companies, payment institutions and electronic money institutions, and since December 2025 the authorising and prudential authority for crypto-asset service providers. In 2025 it concluded 720 administrative offence proceedings against supervised entities, 150 more than the year before, imposing €6.3 million in fines, and opened 479 investigations into unauthorised financial activity — 149 more than in 2024, over half of them fraudulent schemes. It handled 33,375 complaints against financial institutions and recovered €8.9 million in improperly charged interest and fees for customers. Everything below is Banco de Portugal's own data, from its Annual Report – Activities and Financial Statements 2025.

Banco de Portugal is an integrated central bank. This figure covers the whole institution, including monetary policy, currency and reserve management functions alongside supervision, and is not directly comparable with standalone supervisory authorities.

Regulated sectors

BanksPayment institutionsE-money institutionsCrypto-asset service providersCredit institutionsFinancial intermediaries & advisers

Leadership

  • Álvaro Santos PereiraGovernor · since 2025
  • Clara RaposoVice-Governor · since 2022

Full board →

Figures as published by Banco de Portugal for FY2025. Source: Banco de Portugal — Annual Report 2025 (Published 23 April 2026). Data as of 31 December 2025.

Organisation (FY2025)

ItemValue
Staff
1,687
Employees in active service at 31 December 2025; whole-institution basis — monetary policy, statistics, cash and banknote operations alongside supervision. Down from 1,797 at end-2024
Operating expenditure
€222m
Basis: despesas de funcionamento, not budget and not funding income. Up 4.7% on 2024, driven mainly by staff costs following the pay settlement
Result before provisions and tax
−€304m
Substantially less negative than 2024 (−€1,142m)
Net result
−€1.4m
After use of the general risk provision
Balance sheet
€211bn
Up €20bn on end-2024, mainly the effect of a 46% rise in the gold price
Banknotes issued
€6,022m
7% more than the previous year

Supervised entities (end-2025)

ItemValue
Entities licensed under covered frameworks
≈6,360
Approximate. 6,216 credit intermediaries on the conduct register (precise) + ~145 credit institutions, payment / e-money institutions and financial companies
— of which credit intermediaries
6,216
Active credit intermediaries under behavioural conduct supervision; assist consumers with mortgage and auto finance, hold no deposits
— of which core institutions
~145
Credit institutions (domestic retail and universal banks, mutual agricultural credit institutions, foreign branches) + ~10–15 payment and e-money institutions + the financial companies

Enforcement 2025

ItemValue
Administrative offence proceedings concluded
720
Against supervised entities; 150 more than 2024
Fines imposed
€6.3m
Arising from the 720 concluded proceedings; calendar year 2025
Unauthorised activity investigations opened
479
149 more than 2024; more than half were fraudulent schemes

Consumer protection 2025

ItemValue
Complaints received
33,375
Of which 22,795 fell within Banco de Portugal's remit
Complaints with evidence of infringement
6.3% of closed complaints
Restitution to customers
€8.9m
Interest and charges unduly collected, repaid by institutions following supervisory action

Crypto / MiCA

ItemValue
MiCA competent authority
Authorising and prudential authority from 27 December 2025
Law No 69/2025 of 22 December 2025 designates Banco de Portugal and the CMVM as Portugal's MiCA competent authorities. BdP handles CASP authorisation and prudential supervision and supervises public offerings of asset-referenced and e-money tokens. Applications are filed with BdP, which notifies the CMVM; the CMVM may return a reasoned opinion within the MiCA deadline

Notable 2025

ItemValue
Late MiCA designation
Portugal only designated its MiCA competent authorities on 22 December 2025, through Law No 69/2025, in force from 27 December 2025 — roughly a year after MiCA became fully applicable across the EU. Any low 2025 grant count reflects that transposition timetable, not the pace of decision-making.
Enforcement volume rose sharply
720 admin offence proceedings concluded (+150 y/y); 479 unauthorised-activity investigations opened (+149 y/y).
Banknote assessment service
Returned €1.7m to citizens from 44,000 severely damaged banknotes.
Strategic plan 2021–2025
Completed during the year.
Entrecampos office
First payment of €57.6m made under the promissory contract to acquire a new office building at Entrecampos in Lisbon; estimated total ~€192m, amortised over 50 years under ECB rules.
BES and BANIF resolution litigation
Rulings went in favour of Banco de Portugal and the Resolution Fund, including two decisions confirming the legality of the December 2015 retransfer of certain Novo Banco liabilities to BES.

Key legislation

  • Organic Law of Banco de Portugal (Law No 5/98)

    Central-bank statute and supervisory mandate

  • Regime Geral das Instituições de Crédito e Sociedades Financeiras (RGICSF, DL 298/92)

    Banking and financial companies

  • Regime Jurídico dos Serviços de Pagamento e da Moeda Electrónica (DL 91/2018)

    PSD2 / EMD transposition

  • Law No 69/2025 of 22 December 2025

    Portugal's MiCA competent authority designation — BdP for CASPs and ART/EMT issuers

Public registers

Application portals

Recent publications

Data as of 31 December 2025 · Source: www.bportugal.pt + ComplyBridge researchActivity Index methodology →

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