Portugal: lending & credit regulation

Who regulates

• Banco de Portugal

  Primary supervisor of credit institutions, financial companies, and payment institutions; publishes maximum interest rates and supervisory guidelines.

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Core laws & rules

• Decree-Law No. 133/2009 (2009)

  Establishes the legal framework for consumer credit contracts, including the mandate for Banco de Portugal to publish maximum interest rates and regulate credit institutions and financial companies.

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• Decree-Law No. 227/2012 (2012)

  Regulates the duties of financial institutions regarding the prevention and out-of-court regularization of credit contract defaults.

  ^[18]

• Decree-Law No. 44/2024 (2024)

  Establishes the framework for the State's personal guarantee for housing credit granted to young people up to 35 years old.

Licensing & registration

• Credit Institutions and Financial Companies

  Entities must be authorized to operate as credit institutions or financial companies. They are subject to prudential supervision, reporting obligations to the Central Credit Registry, and compliance with maximum interest rate caps.

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Restrictions & warnings

• Maximum interest rates for consumer credit contracts are capped and published quarterly by Banco de Portugal under Decree-Law No. 133/2009.

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• Supervised entities must report actual or potential liabilities arising from credit operations to the Central Credit Registry.

  ^[2]

• Credit institutions must implement specific policies for the identification and marking of borrowers in financial difficulty and the prevention of credit defaults.

  ^[6][25][18]

Direction of travel

• Regulatory focus remains on prudent risk management, including proportional portfolio diversification, non-performing exposure coverage, and the implementation of state-backed housing credit guarantees for young people.

  ^{[1][3][26][27][28]}

Sources

1. Circular Letter No. CC/2026/00000017 · 2026-05-15
2. Instruction (Historical) No. 1/2026 · 2026-02-24
3. Circular Letter No. CC/2026/00000001 · 2026-01-09
4. Instruction (Historical) No. 3/2025 · 2025-03-07
5. Instruction No. 19/2024 · 2024-12-20
6. Circular Letter No. CC/2024/00000033 on Prevention and Regularization of Credit Default · 2024-10-17
7. Instruction (Historical) No. 9/2024 · 2024-06-06
8. Instruction (Historical) No. 3/2024 · 2024-03-06
9. Instruction (Historical) No. 7/2023 · 2023-03-09
10. Instruction (Historical) No. 20/2022 · 2022-12-30
11. Instruction (Archive) No. 9/2022 · 2022-06-09
12. Instruction (Historical) No. 7/2022 · 2022-03-24
13. Instruction No. 5/2022 · 2022-03-09
14. Circular Letter No. CC/2021/00000060 · 2021-12-17
15. Circular Letter No. CC/2021/00000051 · 2021-10-29
16. Instruction (Archive) No. 8/2021 · 2021-06-02
17. Instruction (Archive) No. 3/2021 · 2021-03-10
18. Notice No. 7/2021 · 2021-01-01
19. Circular Letter No. CC/2020/00000068 · 2020-12-15
20. Instruction (Archive) No. 8/2020 · 2020-04-15
21. Instruction (Archive) No. 7/2020 · 2020-03-31
22. Instruction (Archive) No. 4/2020 · 2020-02-24
23. Instruction (Archive) No. 9/2019 · 2019-06-05
24. Instruction (Archive) No. 6/2019 · 2019-03-13
25. Circular Letter No. CC/2024/00000035 · 2024-10-17
26. Circular Letter No. CC/2024/00000049 · 2024-11-28
27. Notice No. 3/2025 · 2025-01-01
28. Notice No. 1/2025 · 2025-01-01