Lisbon, Sept. 22, 2026 (Lusa) - The Governor of the Bank of Portugal (BdP), Álvaro Santos Pereira, said that the Portuguese financial system is now more resilient, better prepared and better equipped to absorb shocks.

«The Portuguese financial system is now more resilient, better prepared and much better equipped to cope with shocks than in the past,» he said, speaking at the conference «Key findings of Portugal's FSAP for the banking sector: resilience, stability and future challenges for the financial system», in Lisbon.

This assessment, carried out by the International Monetary Fund, comes about 20 years after the last one, and over those two decades the Portuguese financial system «has undergone a profound transformation», noted Álvaro Santos Pereira.

«It has weathered the global financial crisis, the sovereign debt crisis, the country's domestic crisis, the pandemic and a period of significant economic turbulence,» recalled the governor, whilst, at the same time, it has evolved within a «fundamentally different» European institutional landscape, shaped by the creation of a banking union, more robust supervisory bodies and new frameworks for crisis management and resolution.

As such, the financial system assessed today «bears little resemblance to the one we examined 20 years ago, including in terms of its resilience to crises», he noted, adding that the Portuguese financial sector and the institutional framework «are stronger and better prepared for future challenges».

Nevertheless, Santos Pereira emphasised that resilience «is not permanent» and must be strengthened and maintained through adaptation and cooperation.

MES/ADB // ADB.

Lusa