Loan Brokers Handle More Than Half of Portugal's 2025 Consumer Lending for the First Time, Bank of Portugal Finds
Credit intermediaries arranged 50.6% of consumer loans in 2025 — the first time the channel has crossed half since it was regulated in 2018. They handled 57% of mortgages and 82.6% of car finance, the Bank of Portugal reports.
For the first time since the activity was brought under formal supervision, more than half of the consumer credit granted in Portugal last year passed through a middleman rather than being arranged directly with a bank. The finding comes from the Banco de Portugal (Bank of Portugal) and its latest Relatório de Acompanhamento dos Mercados de Crédito (Credit Markets Monitoring Report).
A channel that crossed the halfway line
Credit intermediaries — the brokers, retailers and dealerships that connect borrowers to lenders in exchange for a commission — were involved in 50.6% of consumer loans granted in 2025, up from 49.9% in 2024. It is the first time the share has passed 50% since the sector was regulated in 2018, a threshold the central bank reads as a structural shift in how credit reaches Portuguese households rather than a one-off.
The regulator said the increase reflects the growing weight of intermediaries in personal credit and in revolving credit, and signals "a change in the distribution model" for lending to consumers. In other words, the point of sale — the car showroom, the electronics shop, the home-improvement counter — is increasingly where loans are originated.
Cars and homes lead the way
The reliance on intermediaries is far from uniform across products. They were involved in 82.6% of car finance granted during the year, the highest penetration of any segment, as dealerships routinely bundle financing into the sale. In housing and mortgage credit, intermediaries had a hand in 57% of new lending, a notable share for a product long associated with a direct relationship between borrower and bank.
At the end of 2025 the Bank of Portugal counted 4,835 authorised intermediaries. The bulk of them — 76.5% — operate the activity only as a sideline to their main business, most commonly in the motor trade, underlining how much of the growth is being driven by point-of-sale finance rather than by dedicated brokerages.
Why the regulator is watching
The central bank has grown more vocal about conduct in the sector. It has pressed intermediaries to show greater "loyalty" to the consumers they serve, and earlier supervisory work flagged that brokers tend to reach clients with lower financial literacy and lower incomes — precisely the borrowers most exposed to expensive or poorly understood credit. As the channel expands while the traditional branch network shrinks, the regulator has proposed tightening the rules that govern how intermediaries are paid and how they present offers.
For residents weighing a car loan, a renovation or a mortgage, the report is a reminder that the person arranging the finance may not be the institution lending the money, and may be paid by it. The Bank of Portugal's guidance is consistent: compare the headline cost across lenders, read the commission and fee disclosures, and treat the convenience of point-of-sale credit as a starting point for comparison rather than the final word.
