Braganca, Portugal, Aug. 21, 2026 (Lusa) - The Bank of Portugal (BdP), in partnership with Braganca Municipal Council, in the north-east of the country, has, as of Friday, begun offering a mobile in-person service to make it easier for members of the public to access the services provided by the central bank.
«This is a project resulting from a partnership between the Bank of Portugal and Bragança municipal council, which enables the Bank of Portugal [BdP] to be present, through a mobile in-person service, once a week, so that people can enquire about the services on offer,» said the governor of the BdP, Álvaro dos Santos Pereira.
According to the head of the central bank, «this service is very important, following decades in which the State has withdrawn from many areas and regions of the country».
«By returning [to these areas], we are providing better services to citizens; in other words, we are delivering a public service. By returning to these areas, we are increasing the State's presence there, and there is no better place to start than Bragança,» he emphasised.
Santos Pereira also said that, as part of the BdP's strategic plan for 2026–2030, it had been decided to invest in a regional network, where more staff will be working in these services.
«We have six BdP branches and two regional offices. We will have more staff in the branches because our employees are keen to be more actively involved in these services, but also because new technologies make this possible. We will now see if there is demand from citizens for these services,» he said.
The services provided at these in-person BdP service points are varied, with the exception of cash management operations. Citizens can find out about the accounts held in their name, obtain statements of liabilities, or enquire about any outstanding loans for which they are a borrower or guarantor, amongst other banking services.
According to the governor of the BdP, the choice of Bragança for this pilot project is due to the fact that it was the first municipality to express its willingness to host it, whilst also being the area furthest away (200 kilometres) from the central bank's nearest branch.
«This marks the beginning of a paradigm shift; in recent years we have witnessed the closure of public services, and this change is signalled here by the Bank of Portugal's return to this city,» said Isabel Ferreira, Mayor of Bragança.
«This service will enable people not only from Bragança, but from across the entire region, to access these services more conveniently and resolve issues in a practical way,» emphasised the Socialist mayor.
Ferreira now hopes that the six-month duration of this pilot project will demonstrate «just how necessary the presence of this new service is in Bragança».
«I hope people will make the most of the fact that this service is in Bragança and that they will make use of it. If justified by the volume of customers, the BdP is also open to reassessing this pilot project,» she stressed.
This travelling pilot project by the BdP will now operate on Fridays at Bragança Municipal Market, from 09:30 to 12:30 and from 13:30 to 15:00.
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