Credit Intermediary Licence: what you need to start in Portugal

More and more professionals are looking at credit intermediation as a serious activity, with real demand and room to grow. But there is a common mistake at the start: trying to begin with operations, contacts or proposals before dealing with the legal foundation. In Portugal, access to this activity depends on authorisation and registration with the Bank of Portugal. In other words: before attracting clients, it is worth making sure the path is properly set up.

This is not just a bureaucratic detail. It is a decision that can save time, avoid refusals and give more confidence to anyone who wants to enter the sector with a sustainable project.

The market is active, but that does not remove the rules

The Bank of Portugal itself shows that this is an activity with relevant scale. On the official page about the evolution of authorisation requests, the regulator says that by December 31, 2023, it had received 8,902 authorisation requests, with 6,512 approved and 2,308 refused. These numbers show two things at once: there is real interest in this activity, but there is also real filtering by the supervisor.

So yes, entering the sector makes sense. Entering it unprepared is what can delay everything.

First essential fact: without authorisation and registration, you cannot operate

On the Customer Banking Portal, the Bank of Portugal states clearly that access to the activity depends on authorisation and registration. The same page also says that carrying out the activity without proper authorisation is an offence punishable as an administrative breach.

In practice, this means it is not enough to have commercial skills, real estate experience or the will to help clients with financing. You must complete the formal process, submit the request correctly and provide the documents required by the regulator.

If you want to understand that path from the outset, you can see our dedicated service page here:

Get a credit intermediary licence

Which courses and training are needed to obtain the licence?

This is one of the most common questions. According to the Bank of Portugal, the knowledge and competence requirement can be met in two ways:

• with a university degree, higher professional technical diploma or post-secondary training that includes the minimum contents set out in Ordinance no. 385-B/2017;
• or with completed compulsory schooling and professional certification obtained through training provided by entities certified by the Bank of Portugal.

When the professional certification route is used, the required training depends on the type of credit activity:

• if you intend to work only in consumer credit, you should complete training in Credit intermediation and Consumer credit marketing;
• if you intend to work only in housing credit, you should complete training in Credit intermediation and Mortgage credit marketing;
• if you intend to work in both areas, you should complete Credit intermediation, Mortgage credit marketing and Consumer credit marketing.

In addition, the Bank of Portugal states that staff assigned to credit intermediation and housing credit advisory activity must have, at minimum, training in Mortgage credit marketing.

In other words, before submitting the request, it is not enough simply to want to move forward. It is important to confirm which training you already have, which training is still missing and how that fits into the licensing process. That is exactly the kind of preparation that can be supported here:

Get a credit intermediary licence

How to obtain a credit intermediary licence in Portugal

For many people, this is the exact search they make on Google: “how to obtain a credit intermediary licence in Portugal”. The short answer is simple: confirm the category in which you will operate, validate the personal and professional requirements, ensure you have the right training, gather the documents and submit the request to the Bank of Portugal with everything properly prepared.

In practice, this is where many people lose time. Not because they lack interest, but because a poorly prepared licensing process can lead to corrections, additional requests and new delays. That is why anyone who is serious about moving forward benefits from having a single point of support to understand what is missing and how to organise each step.

The issue is rarely the idea. The issue is building the process properly

Many applications do not get stuck because of lack of motivation. They get stuck because of weak document preparation, inconsistent information, uncertainty about how the activity should be structured, or lack of support in understanding what the Bank of Portugal is actually asking for.

On the official authorisation page, the regulator explains that before filling in the form, the applicant should read the applicable information, have the needed credentials, gather the required data and scan the relevant documents separately. It sounds simple at first glance, but in practice this is often where delays begin.

There is another important point: according to the Bank of Portugal, the review period is 90 days, and it may extend up to 180 days when there are shortcomings or irregularities to correct. That is why starting with a cleaner process is not a minor detail. It can affect how long it takes to reach the licence.

And preparing the process well also means checking whether the documentation regarding training, professional experience and the technical manager requirements is actually ready before submission. If you want support from the start, the entry point is here:

Get a credit intermediary licence

Legal support does not replace merit. It helps avoid avoidable mistakes

Anyone who wants to start this activity seriously does not just need “someone to handle paperwork”. They need support to organise the request, understand the registration logic and reduce the risk of formal mistakes.

That is where specialised legal support becomes valuable:

• it helps clarify the legal framework before submission;
• it supports document preparation;
• it reduces the risk of omissions, inconsistencies and rework;
• it gives more confidence to people moving forward for the first time.

Instead of starting through trial and error, you start with process, sequence and support.

There is also a maturity signal from the market itself

The public list from the Bank of Portugal currently shows 6,365 items linked to registered credit intermediaries. That strengthens a simple idea: this is no longer an improvised or marginal activity. It is a regulated, visible and supervised market, where starting properly matters from day one.

For anyone who wants to build reputation, partnerships and commercial trust, the licence should not be seen as an obstacle. It should be seen as the first serious asset of the business.

If the goal is to get started, it makes sense to begin with the right support

People who are truly ready to move forward often reach the same conclusion: spending weeks trying to interpret everything alone can cost more than setting up the process with support from the start.

If you want to take that step more safely, see our dedicated licensing support page here:

Get a credit intermediary licence

That page explains, in simple terms, how legal support works and what can be handled with you at each stage of the process.

If your goal is to be found by clients, partners and banks with a serious professional foundation already in place, the first step remains the same: handle the credit intermediary licence with the right framework from day one.

Official sources

• Bank of Portugal — Access to the activity of credit intermediary
• Bank of Portugal — Credit intermediary authorisation
• Bank of Portugal — Credit intermediary registration
• Bank of Portugal — Evolution of authorisation requests for credit intermediaries
• Bank of Portugal — List of credit intermediaries
• Official Gazette — Decree-Law no. 81-C/2017

Read next

• Credit Intermediary in Portugal: Complete Guide — a full overview of the activity.
• Tied vs Non-Tied Credit Intermediary: which path should you choose? — useful if you are still deciding your model.
• Want to become a Credit Intermediary? Legal Support makes it easier — a complementary editorial piece about the service.