Fintech +
The Banco de Portugal provides a contact channel on this page to answer questions on innovation in financial products and services. It also provides relevant information in this field.
As national supervisory authority, macroprudential authority and payment systems overseer, the Banco de Portugal keeps track of financial innovation developments:
- It partners with the relevant national and international entities to develop financial services regulation, namely the National Council of Financial Supervisors, the European Banking Authority, the Single Supervisory Mechanism and the European Systemic Risk Board;
- It encourages and takes part in debate on the risks and opportunities that technological innovation — for example, artificial intelligence, the technologies behind crypto-assets and the use of large volumes of data (big data) — creates within the scope of financial services;
- It assesses the impact of digital transformation on internal organisation and processes, with the goal of increasing effectiveness and efficiency in carrying out its mission to safeguard financial stability and price stability;
- It keeps track of the technological developments linked to financial compliance, commonly known as RegTech, including prevention of money laundering and terrorist financing.
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According to the Financial Stability Board’s definition, ‘fintech’ refers to technologically enabled innovation in financial services that could result in new business models, applications, processes or products with an associated material effect on the provision of financial services.
'Fintech' may refer to entities that operate in the financial sector and that have business models based on innovative technologies. It may also refer to the technologies themselves, applied to financial services and used by those entities or traditional financial system participants as banks and payment institutions.
'Fintech' is a portmanteau word formed from the phrase 'financial technology'.
Portugal FinLab is a communication channel between innovators and the three Portuguese financial supervisors – the Banco de Portugal, the Portuguese Insurance and Pension Funds Supervisory Authority and the Portuguese Securities Market Commission. This channel aims to support the development of innovative projects in FinTech, InsurTech and RegTech by answering regulatory questions posed by those authorities so as to ensure the projects comply with the applicable regulatory framework.
Any innovative project can apply to Portugal FinLab. The projects that fall within the competence of at least one authority are invited to pitch. Subsequently, the authorities select a number of projects for detailed analysis, in report format, of the main applicable regulatory requirements and potential obstacles to the project’s implementation.
- Portuguese financial regulators launch the 4th edition of Portugal FinLab
- Financial regulators launch third Portugal FinLab
- PORTUGAL FINLAB’s 2nd edition launched at the Web Summit
- FINLAB OPEN DAY: Session to present results - First Edition (in Portuguese only)
- Regulators and Portugal Fintech officially announce Portugal FinLab (in Portuguese only)
- Portugal FinLab: Regulators and Portugal Fintech create platform to support financial technological innovation (in Portuguese only)
At national level
- Characterisation of PIs, EMIs and fintechs with activity in Portugal (in Portuguese only)
- Virtual currencies: what they are and how they work
- European Supervisory Authorities alert consumers to virtual currency risks (in Portuguese only)
- NCSF’s warning to consumers about ‘virtual currencies’ (in Portuguese only)
At European level
- MiCA
- EU Digital Finance Platform
- ESAs procedural framework for Innovation Facilitator Cross-Boarder Testing
- ECB – Innovation in market infrastructure and payments
- EBA assesses benefits, challenges and risks of RegTech use in the EU and puts forward steps to be taken to support sound adoption and scale-up of RegTech solutions
- Crypto-assets: ESAs remind consumers about risks
- EBA assesses impact of FinTech on payment institutions' and e-money institutions' business models
- ESAs publish joint report on regulatory sandboxes and innovation hubs
- The EBA publishes thematic report on the development, implementation and adoption of Big Data and Advanced Analytics
- EBA – Fintech Knowledge Hub
- EBA – Fintech approach
- SSM – What are fintech banks and what impact will they have on financial services?
European legislation
- SSM – ECB publishes guides to assessments of licence applications for banks and fintech credit institutions
- Guide to assessments of fintech credit institution licence applications, March 2018
Global initiatives
- Presentation of Director Hélder Rosalino at the “Portugal em Exame” Conference: “Os desafios dos bancos centrais a caminho do euro digital”, 16 Feb 2023 (in Portuguese only)
- Opening Address by Vice-Governor Luís Máximo dos Santos at the FinCoNet Annual General Meeting, 21 Nov 2022
- Presentation by Director Hélder Rosalino at the Conference “Os desafios da transformação digital no Setor de Pagamentos”, 16 Nov 2022 (in Portuguese only)
- Opening Remarks by Director Ana Paula Serra at the National Council of Financial Supervisors Workshop: “The path to RegTech/SupTech maturity”, 16 Jul 2021
- Concluding Remarks by Director Hélder Rosalino at the National Council of Financial Supervisors Workshop: “A inteligência artificial na transformação do sistema financeiro”, 19 May 2021 (in Portuguese only)
- Concluding Remarks by Vice-Governor Luís Máximo dos Santos at the “Fintech Meeting: Onboarding Digital”, 29 Apr 2021 (in Portuguese only)
- Presentation by Director Hélder Rosalino at the Smart Payments Congress: “RegTech e Suptech: regular e supervisionar a tecnologia”, 22 Oct 2020 (in Portuguese only)
- Opening Remarks by Director Hélder Rosalino at the Conference “Desafios da Transformação Digital que a Banca enfrenta”, 23 Jan 2020 (in Portuguese only)
