PORTUGAL

Source: IMF, International Financial Statistics, July 2021.

• The Portuguese central bank is Banco de Portugal (www.bportugal.pt).
• The Banco de Portugal is a member of the European System of Central Banks (ESCB) and operates certain activities, such as issuing currency, under the authority of the European Central Bank (ECB – www.ecb.europa.eu).

Bank supervision

• In November 2014, the ECB, via the Single Supervisory Mechanism (SSM), assumed responsibility for supervising the financial stability of banks operating within the euro zone. However, while the ECB has final supervisory authority over all banks operating within the euro zone, it will only directly supervise those banks classified as ‘significant’ under the terms of the SSM (115 significant banking groups have been recognized to date). ‘Less significant’ banks will continue to be supervised by the national supervisory authority, i.e. the Banco de Portugal.
• The National Council of Financial Supervisors (CNSF) promotes cross-sector financial supervision and cooperation with overseas regulators.

• Lifting fees are applied on payments between resident and non-resident bank accounts.

• DISCLOSED / UNDISCLOSED 

Both are available. Undisclosed programmes are only offered to well-rated companies. 

• RECOURSE / NON-RECOURSE 

Mainly non-recourse factoring, however recourse programmes are offered to high quality clients. 

• STRUCTURED PRODUCTS 

Reverse factoring under conditions rating in the group. 

• EXPORT / IMPORT 

Export factoring is usually done through the BNP Paribas Factoring network and FCI. 

• CONCENTRATION REQUIREMENTS 

A maximum limit of 50% applies. 

• MAX. PREPAYMENT % 

Average 95%. 

• CREDIT COVER % 

90% to 95%, reinsurance is a must. 

• USUAL FUNDING PERIOD 

Maximum 90 days after due date. 

• OFF-BALANCE SHEET SOLUTIONS 

Ability to create structures that meet the requirements of independent auditors, to be classified as “Off-balance sheet”. 

• INVOICE TRANSFER 

Integrated IT solutions offered (TeleFactor). 

• ON-LINE APPLICATIONS 

Integrated IT solutions are offered for portfolio information: TeleFactor, own developed system by BNP Paribas Factor France. 

• DELAYED DUNNING 

Available, usual terms between 30 and 45 days. 

• DATA FACTORING 

Available. 

• CURRENCIES OF FINANCE 

EUR, USD, GBP and JPY.

• Credit transfers are used by companies to pay salaries and suppliers, and to make tax and treasury payments.
• The use of credit transfers increased 8% in volume and 3.5% in value in 2020. Instant transfers increased by 81.3% in volume and 50.4% in value.
• SEPA credit transfers can be settled via SICOI’s SEPA Credit Transfers subsystem or STEP2.
• Approximately 36 banks in Portugal participate in the SEPA credit transfer scheme.
• Low-value, non-SEPA credit transfers are settled via SICOI on a next-day basis.
• High-value and urgent domestic and cross-border (within the euro zone) credit transfers with a value greater than EUR 100,000 are settled in real time via TARGET2.
• High-value and urgent cross-border credit transfers can also be settled with end-of-day value via the Euro Banking Association's EURO1 system. Five banks in Portugal participate directly in EURO1.
• High-value, cross-border credit transfers in domestic and other currencies can be processed via SWIFT and settled through correspondent banking and bank branch networks.
• The European Payment Council’s SCT Inst scheme (a pan-European 24/7 instant payment scheme for SEPA credit transfers) enables the transfer of funds (the maximum threshold value is EUR 100,000) to another account in less than ten seconds. There are 16 participants.
• EBA Clearing and Italy’s SIA Group have developed and implemented a pan-European platform for instant EUR payments called RT1. It is fully compliant with the SCT Insts scheme and is in line with the ISO 20022 global messaging standards for instant payments.
• EBA Clearing has launched a pan-European request to pay (R2P) infrastructure solution with the support of 27 payment service providers from 11 countries. The new 24/7 service is compatible with the SCT and SCT Inst schemes and allows payees to take the initiative to request a specific payment from the payer.
• TIPS is a pan-European service for the settlement of instant payments in central bank money. The service enables payment service providers and ACHs with access to TARGET2 to offer fund transfers 24/7, 365 days a year. TIPS is aligned with SCT Insts. It is primarily focused on EUR payments but is technically capable of settling payments denominated in other currencies.

• Direct debits are used for regular payments, such as utility bills.
• SEPA CORE and B2B direct debit schemes can be settled on a same-day basis via SICOI’s SDD SEPA subsystem or STEP2. There are 29 participants in the Core SDD scheme and 12 on the B2B SDD scheme.

• The cheque is an important cashless payment instrument used by both consumers and companies. In 2020, cheque volume and value declined 27.9% and 27.8% respectively.
• Low-value cheques (with a value of EUR 10,000 or less) are truncated into electronic items before being settled via SICOI on a next-day basis.
• High-value cheques (with a value greater than EUR 10,000) are processed via the CIIC, the interbank cheque image exchange system. There are 40 participants in the CIIC.
• Cheques with a value greater than EUR 500,000 are processed via TARGET2-PT.

• Card payments are increasingly popular, especially for retail transactions. In 2020, card payments accounted for 85% of the volume of total cleared transactions.
• There were 24.7 million debit cards and 8.65 million credit and charge cards in circulation at the end of 2020.
• Visa Electron, Maestro and Cirrus-branded debit cards are the most widely issued.
• Visa and MasterCard-branded credit cards are the most widely issued. UNIBANCO, a national credit card, is issued by UNICRE.
• Card payments are cleared via Multibanco.
• Contactless card technology is available in Portugal. In 2020, contactless payments accounted for 23.6% of total card payments in terms of volume and for 12.9% in terms of value.
• The majority of cards issued are SEPA-compliant with EMV chips.

• There were 14,300 ATMs in Portugal at the end of 2020.
• There were 393,600 EFTPOS terminals in Portugal at the end of 2019.
• All payments are cleared via Multibanco.
• All ATMs and POS terminals are EMV-compliant.

• Electronic wallet schemes are becoming increasingly popular in Portugal.
• Pre-paid cards are issued by some retailers, phone companies and universities.
• Mobile payment schemes such as paysafecard and Google Pay are available but adoption to date has been slow.

• BNP Paribas' Global Trade Solutions (GTS) team in Portugal offers a comprehensive range of trade finance products and solutions to corporates headquartered in, and operating in Portugal. The local GTS team comprises a senior trade manager based in Lisbon, with the support of the GTS team in Spain for advisory services. In addition, a team of 3 senior trade officers is dedicated to letters of credit, guarantees and documentary collections. As a result of the strength of this expertise, BNP Paribas is able to offer customised solutions, advisory and training to support clients' diverse needs.

• The EU has trade agreements in place with over 30 countries.
• The EU is currently in free trade negotiations with a number of countries, including the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), Australia, Indonesia, Mercosur (the Southern Common Market), Uruguay, and the USA.
• The EU-UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement came into force on 1 May 2021.

Sources: IMF, International Financial Statistics, July 2021.