Banco de Portugal warns Revolut: “Institutions must comply with applicable regulations” | bank
Banco Revolut will not be supervised by Banco de Portugal (BdP), which is only responsible for supervising (but not sanctioning) the performance of institutions that, like the latter, operate under the free provision of services. Even so, the Portuguese supervisor leaves a warning: institutions such as Revolut’s bank that operate in Portugal are obliged to act in accordance with the standards of conduct applicable in the country.
Banco Revolut, whose launch in Portugal was announced by “fintech”(Financial technology) last week, it will operate as a credit institution with its registered office and authorized in Lithuania,“ authorized, under legal terms, to operate in Portugal under the regime of Free Provision of Services ”. This means, as PÚBLICO has already explained, that the Portuguese supervisor does not have the power to sanction the Revolut, so any infractions will be analyzed by the Lithuanian authorities.
This confirms, now, the BdP itself. “Banco de Portugal is responsible for supervising compliance with the rules of conduct applicable to the provision of banking services by the institutions headquartered here and those operating in Portugal through a branch. Banco de Portugal does not exercise behavioral supervision in relation to institutions that provide banking services in Portugal through [livre prestação de serviços]. It is up to the competent authority of the Member State of origin to exercise this supervision (which includes, for example, the sanction of the conduct of that entity in light of the facts alleged by bank customers in the context of complaints)”, clarifies the supervisor’s official source, in replies express to the PUBLIC.
But how rules are to be followed. “The institutions that operate in Portugal under [livre prestação de serviços] they must comply with the rules of conduct applicable in the national territory”, refers the same source. This includes, for example, rules relating to banking services.
“According to the legal framework in force, banking services are obligatorily provided by all credit institutions authorized to receive deposits in Portugal that provide the public with the services included in banking services”, concludes the BdP.
This particular rule, however, will not apply to Revolut Bank, which is authorized to receive deposits in Portugal, but which is not included in the set of credit institutions required to provide banking services. This is because the company is currently divided into two: the deposit service will be provided by Revolut Bank; services, such as payments or transfers, which are included in the package covered by banking services, are provided by Revolut Payments, an electronic money institution (and not a bank), which is outside the range of institutions required to provide accounts of services services.
