Banco de Portugal publishes today its Banking Conduct Supervision Report. The report describes the regulatory and supervisory activities carried out by Banco de Portugal in 2015 in retail banking markets.
This year, the Banking Conduct Supervision Report focuses again on the implementation of the general regime and the extraordinary regime governing arrears on credit agreements.
It also addresses the challenges posed by the new digital channels used in the sale of banking products and services and the special attention they deserve from Banco de Portugal.
1 - Supervisory activities in 2015
The Bank’s more intrusive action led to a substantial increase in the number of administrative proceedings initiated.
In 2015 Banco de Portugal conducted more inspections on a greater number of credit institutions, and covered a larger area of the national territory. The Bank conducted 467 inspections on institutions’ branches, 23 inspections on central services and 525 off-site inspections, covering a total of 106 entities, 10 entities more than in the previous year.
The increase in the number of inspections and the analysis of bank customer complaints led to a substantial increase in the number of recommendations and specific orders issued and the number of administrative proceedings initiated, which more than trebled.
Banco de Portugal issued 1,034 recommendations and specific orders requiring 62 institutions to correct the irregularities detected, 35 per cent more than in the previous year.
The Bank initiated 215 administrative proceedings against 45 institutions to penalise infringements on banking conduct supervision rules, which corresponds to an increase of 151 proceedings and 20 institutions compared to 2014.
Bank customer complaints declined for the second year in a row.
Banco de Portugal received 13,487 bank customer complaints against credit institutions, 5 per cent fewer than in 2014.
This decline was broadly based across most banking products, except for deposit accounts, and was largely due to a reduction in complaints about the arrears regimes.
The indexed and dual deposit market grew.
Information leaflets on indexed and dual deposits analysed by Banco de Portugal in 2015 increased by around 19 per cent from the previous year, reflecting an increase in the number of deposits sold by a greater number of institutions.
Non-compliance in advertising remains residual.
The Bank analysed 7,603 advertising campaigns on banking products of 62 credit institutions. Approximately 97.8 per cent complied with rules in force.