The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is having meetings with Portuguese banks as part of regular assessments of the national banking sector to assess its solidity and possible risks.
On Thursday, at a press conference, the president of Santander Totta said that, after the presentation of the bank’s results, he would have a meeting with an IMF delegation in Portugal. When asked about the topic, Pedro Castro e Ameida did not provide any further information.
Lusa contacted the Bank of Portugal, which explained that contacts between the Washington-based institution and the banks are part of the IMF’s regular analysis of the Portuguese financial system, which began in mid-2025.
“Last year, the International Monetary Fund began an assessment program for the Portuguese financial sector (Financial Sector Assessment Program). This is a routine exercise that involves an in-depth analysis of the resilience of the country’s financial sector, which is scheduled to take place between 2025 and 2026,” said an official source from the banking regulator and supervisor.
The Bank of Portugal added that the analysis is due to the fact that the Portuguese financial system is included in the “list of financial systems considered to be of systemic importance”, as they are subject to a mandatory assessment every five years.
As part of this assessment, the IMF also has meetings with the Bank of Portugal.
According to a sector source contacted by Lusa, in these meetings the IMF is concerned about the exposure of banks to the construction and real estate sector and public debt, due to the risks that both may entail in the future.
Lusa contacted the Portuguese Banking Association (APB), which did not provide clarification.
The conclusions of the assessment of the Portuguese financial system will be publicly disclosed as soon as it is completed.
In 2022, after the assessment, the IMF welcomed the recovery of Portuguese banks (reduction in non-performing loans and improvement in capital and profitability ratios) and suggested that the Bank of Portugal consider requiring banks to have a countercyclical capital reserve against potential risks of banks’ exposure to real estate.
In 2024, the Bank of Portugal announced that from 2026 banks would have to have a countercyclical capital reserve of 0.75%.
The banking regulator and supervisor explained that he decided to force banks to reinforce their capital ‘cushions’ in a positive phase of the economic cycle so that in the future, in the event of a crisis (and growth in problematic credit), they will have more capacity to absorb losses and mitigate the drop in loans.
The countercyclical reserve must be fulfilled from July 2026 onwards.
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