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banking

Banking services, regulations, and financial products in Portugal.
Lone Star Closes the Door on Eight Years at Novo Banco as French Group BPCE Takes 100% Ownership Today — Portugal's Fourth-Largest Bank Crosses Into the Hands of Europe's Second-Biggest Cooperative on 30 April 2026

Lone Star Closes the Door on Eight Years at Novo Banco as French Group BPCE Takes 100% Ownership Today — Portugal's Fourth-Largest Bank Crosses Into the Hands of Europe's Second-Biggest Cooperative on 30 April 2026

BPCE — the French cooperative banking group behind Banque Populaire and Caisse d'Épargne — completes the €6.4 billion acquisition of Novo Banco on 30 April, ending Lone Star's eight-year ownership and folding Portugal's fourth-largest bank into a 32-million-customer European retail group.
The Portugal Brief
Household Deposits in Portuguese Banks Hit a Record €201.7 Billion in March — Banco de Portugal Logs +4.8% Year-on-Year, Term Deposits Lead the Monthly Bump and Corporate Deposits Surge 11.6%

Household Deposits in Portuguese Banks Hit a Record €201.7 Billion in March — Banco de Portugal Logs +4.8% Year-on-Year, Term Deposits Lead the Monthly Bump and Corporate Deposits Surge 11.6%

Portuguese households parked a record €201.7 billion in resident-bank deposits at the end of March 2026 — annual growth accelerated to 4.8%, term deposits led the monthly bump, and non-financial-corporation deposits surged 11.6% year-on-year, the strongest pace since June 2022.
The Portugal Brief
Getting a Portuguese Mortgage as a Foreign Resident in 2026 — The 60-to-90 Per Cent LTV Ladder, the Euribor-Plus-Spread Indexante, the FINE Form, the BdP Stress-Test Premium, and What Actually Lands at the Notarial Escritura

Getting a Portuguese Mortgage as a Foreign Resident in 2026 — The 60-to-90 Per Cent LTV Ladder, the Euribor-Plus-Spread Indexante, the FINE Form, the BdP Stress-Test Premium, and What Actually Lands at the Notarial Escritura

The Portuguese mortgage product — crédito à habitação — is a remarkably standardised instrument. Every bank operates inside the same Banco de Portugal framework, sells the same three rate structures, applies the same documentation list, and signs at...
The Portugal Brief