The advance release of Banco de Portugal’s June 2026 Economic Bulletin includes an important confirmation for the market: credit intermediaries are no longer a peripheral channel. According to data reported by credit institutions for 2025, around 51% of the amount of consumer credit and 56% of the amount of mortgage credit was marketed with the involvement of an intermediary at some stage of the process.
This changes how the sector should look at organisation, technology and client service. When a channel represents half of the market volume, it can no longer operate through improvised methods. It needs processes, traceability, updated information and the capacity to follow clients consistently.
The intermediary sits between client and bank
Banco de Portugal describes the intermediary as the agent connecting consumers who need financing with financial institutions. This function includes presenting or proposing credit agreements, delivering pre-contractual documentation, providing information about product characteristics, collecting documentation for simulations and, in certain cases, providing advisory services.
This description matters because it shows that the intermediary’s value is not simply “sending cases to the bank”. It is about reducing friction, helping the client compare alternatives, preparing information better and making the path to a decision more efficient.
For CRM Crédito, this is exactly the central point: the more relevant the intermediary’s role becomes, the more important it is to have an organised operation.
The number to notice: 51% in consumer credit
In mortgage credit, the weight of intermediaries was already visible in the market. But the 51% figure in consumer credit reinforces another reality: intermediation now has material relevance beyond housing.
Banco de Portugal focuses particularly on personal credit and car finance between 2021 and 2025. In car finance, more than 80% of volume was granted through intermediaries. In personal credit, the percentage was around 20%, but the channel’s importance has been increasing.
This creates two different challenges. In car finance, volume requires speed and standardisation. In personal credit, growth requires better qualification, follow-up and explanation to the client.
More scale, more responsibility
The same study notes that intermediaries can contribute to financial inclusion and greater competition by reducing search costs, helping compare proposals and directing cases with a higher probability of approval.
But the model also brings challenges. Whenever the intermediary is remunerated by the financial institution, commercial incentives may not be fully aligned with the consumer’s interest. That is why transparency, documentation and process records become more important.
The greater the weight of intermediaries in the market, the greater the expectations from regulators and clients.
Why this is CRM news
At first glance, the Economic Bulletin is a macroeconomic publication. But for anyone managing a credit intermediation business, the data has a very operational reading.
If the intermediary is involved in half of credit volume, every team needs to answer simple questions:
- Where do leads enter?
- Who follows each client?
- Which documents have already been received?
- Which simulations were presented?
- Which bank is analysing the case?
- Which proposal was compared with which alternative?
- Which communication was recorded?
- Which commissions are expected or pending?
Without CRM, these answers are scattered across emails, messages, Excel sheets and team memory. With CRM, they are linked to the case.
What a team should prepare to grow
The growth of the intermediation channel does not mean only more commercial opportunities. It also means more operational volume. And volume without process usually creates delays, communication failures and loss of control.
A team that wants to grow should have, at minimum:
Process pipeline. Each request should have a status, owner, priority and next action.
Client history. Interactions, simulations, documents and decisions should stay linked to the same record.
Organised documentation. The case cannot depend on attachments lost in conversations.
Communication templates. Consistent messages reduce errors and improve the client experience.
Commission control. As approved cases increase, account statements cannot live in scattered files.
Knowledge base. Larger teams need common information without depending on the same person every time.
Opportunity for more professional intermediaries
Banco de Portugal’s data shows that there is room for intermediaries to remain relevant, especially when they help consumers understand products, prepare documentation and find suitable proposals.
But it also shows that the activity has reached a scale that requires proper tools. Competitive advantage is no longer only about bank relationships or lead generation. It is also about follow-up quality, response speed and the ability to keep each case under control.
Conclusion
The advance release of the June 2026 Economic Bulletin confirms what many professionals already felt in the market: credit intermediation has become a central part of the Portuguese credit sector. With 51% of consumer credit volume and 56% of mortgage credit volume marketed with intermediary involvement, the sector has gained scale, relevance and responsibility.
For those working in this area, the conclusion is simple: the market has grown, and operations must grow with it. A specialised CRM helps turn that growth into organised processes, aligned teams, better follow-up and more capacity to respond to clients, banks and regulators.
Sources
Read also
- Credit Intermediation CRM: The Best Solution to Manage and Increase Approvals
- Consumer Credit Maximum Rates 2026: simulations need CRM
- Banco de Portugal 2026 guide: what changes in practice for intermediaries
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