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. The staff 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
6BanksPayment institutionsE-money institutionsCrypto-asset service providersCredit institutionsFinancial intermediaries & advisers
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.
Leadership
2Álvaro Santos PereiraGovernorsince 2025
Clara RaposoVice-Governorsince 2022
Full board
Organisation (FY2025)
Staff1,687Employees 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€222mBasis: 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−€304mSubstantially less negative than 2024 (−€1,142m)
Net result−€1.4mAfter use of the general risk provision
Balance sheet€211bnUp €20bn on end-2024, mainly the effect of a 46% rise in the gold price
Banknotes issued€6,022m7% more than the previous year
Supervised entities (end-2025)
Entities licensed under covered frameworks≈6,360Approximate. 6,216 credit intermediaries on the conduct register (precise) + ~145 credit institutions, payment / e-money institutions and financial companies
Estimate — of which credit intermediaries6,216Active credit intermediaries under behavioural conduct supervision; assist consumers with mortgage and auto finance, hold no deposits
— of which core institutions~145Credit institutions (domestic retail and universal banks, mutual agricultural credit institutions, foreign branches) + ~10–15 payment and e-money institutions + the financial companies
Estimate Enforcement 2025
Administrative offence proceedings concluded720Against supervised entities; 150 more than 2024
Fines imposed€6.3mArising from the 720 concluded proceedings; calendar year 2025
Unauthorised activity investigations opened479149 more than 2024; more than half were fraudulent schemes
Consumer protection 2025
Complaints received33,375Of which 22,795 fell within Banco de Portugal's remit
Complaints with evidence of infringement6.3% of closed complaints
Restitution to customers€8.9mInterest and charges unduly collected, repaid by institutions following supervisory action
Crypto / MiCA
FY2025MiCA competent authorityAuthorising and prudential authority from 27 December 2025Law 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
Late MiCA designationPortugal 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 sharply720 admin offence proceedings concluded (+150 y/y); 479 unauthorised-activity investigations opened (+149 y/y).
Banknote assessment serviceReturned €1.7m to citizens from 44,000 severely damaged banknotes.
Strategic plan 2021–2025Completed during the year.
Entrecampos officeFirst 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 litigationRulings 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
4Organic 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 2025Portugal's MiCA competent authority designation — BdP for CASPs and ART/EMT issuers
Registers, portals and publications