The following list of banks in Portugal is to be understood within the framework of the European single market and European banking union, which means that the Portuguese banking system is more open to cross-border banking operations than peers outside of the EU.
European banking supervision distinguishes between significant institutions (SIs) and less significant institutions (LSIs), with SI/LSI designations updated regularly by the European Central Bank (ECB). Significant institutions are directly supervised by the ECB using joint supervisory teams that involve the national competent authorities (NCAs) of individual participating countries. Less significant institutions are supervised by the relevant NCA on a day-to-day basis, under the supervisory oversight of the ECB. [1] In Portugal's case, the NCA is the Bank of Portugal. [2]
As of 1 September 2025, the list of supervised institutions maintained by the ECB included the following three Portuguese banking groups as SIs, with names as indicated by the ECB for each group's consolidating entity: [3]
Meanwhile LSF / Novo Banco has been acquired by BPCE (which already owns Banco Primus in Portugal), and other euro-area-based banking groups also have operations in Portugal. A study published in 2024 assessed that the bank with most aggregate assets in Portugal (as opposed to total consolidated assets) as of end-2023 was CGD at €99 billion, followed by BCP (€68 billion), Santander (€65 billion, via Banco Santander Portugal), Novo Banco (€44 billion), and CaixaBank (€39 billion, via Banco BPI). [4] : 27–28 Other euro-area banking groups are unmentioned in this list because they operate in Portugal via a branch, such as BBVA, [4] : 32 even though it also maintains a Portuguese subsidiary. The two other euro-area SIs that operate in Portugal via subsidiaries are Abanca and Crédit Agricole. [3]
As of 1 September 2025, the ECB's list of supervised institutions included 94 Portuguese LSIs. [3]
Of these, the following three were designated by the ECB as "high-impact" on the basis of several criteria including size:
Based on the same ECB list, four Portuguese LSIs were affiliates of financial groups based outside the euro area:
72 other LSIs were local agricultural cooperatives operating as a decentralized network centered on the Caixa Central de Crédito Agrícola Mútuo CRL (listed above as high-impact LSI).
The ECB list included the following 15 additional institutions:
The Bank of Portugal and Banco Português de Fomento are public credit institutions that do not hold a banking license under EU law. Caixas economicas (small local savings banks) under public law are also specifically exempted from application of the EU Capital Requirements Directives. [5]
A number of former Portuguese banks, defined as having been headquartered in the present-day territory of Portugal, are documented on Wikipedia, listed below in chronological order of establishment.