MultibancoEurope's most integrated domestic network: a single ATM and POS network plus public and private services (Pagamentos de Serviços, Multibanco references) that Visa and Mastercard cannot replicate. SIBS sued the Bank of Portugal in January 2025 over how the network is regulated.SIBS (owned by Portuguese banks) · since 1985Interbank network linking the ATMs of 27 banks; SIBS publishes detailed volumes quarterly (not reviewed here)
Global registry · Europe · Southern Europe
Portugal Payment systems
4 systems listed.
CurrencyEuro (EUR)
Domestic schemeMultibanco
RegulatorBanco de Portugal
Leading payment methods
Multibanco / MB WayCardsWalletsCash
E-commerce shares
Cards · 35%Account-to-account · 30%Wallets · 20%Other · 7%Cash · 5%Buy now, pay later · 3%
Multibanco & MB Way. Multibanco (1985) is an interbank network with no equivalent anywhere: multifunction ATMs, payment references for paying bills and online purchases, and domestic cards. Its mobile extension MB Way (P2P, mobile payments, QR) has more than 5 million users and has joined the EuroPA alliance.
MB Way users>5M (2024)
Multibanco network≈12,000 multifunction ATMs
The “referência Multibanco” (entity + reference + amount) remains a national e-commerce standard that every Portuguese shopper knows by heart.
IBAN · Portugal
25 charactersSEPA area84 bank codes253 BIC codes
- Total length
- 25 characters
- Bank code position
- 5–8
- Branch code position
- 9–12
- BBAN structure
4!n4!n11!n2!n
Structurally valid example
PTcountry code50check digits0002bank0123branch1234567890154account
PT50 0002 0123 1234 5678 9015 4
Learn about this market. The guides and courses that cover it.
Merchant, acquirer, PSPPayment regulationCentral banks and payment infrastructuresAgents, distributors, and banking-as-a-service: who is liable for whatPayments in the BalkansPayments in the Baltics and FinlandAccepting payments in Germany, Austria, and SwitzerlandAccepting payments in Spain and PortugalChoosing a jurisdiction for your payment institutionAccepting payments in the Netherlands and BelgiumAccepting payments in the NordicsAccepting payments in Poland and Central Europe
Card schemes
Clearing and settlement
SICOI (Sistema de Compensação Interbancária)Portugal’s retail CSM, run by the central bank, with separate subsystems for Multibanco, checks, bills of exchange, direct debits, and instant credit transfers.Banco de Portugal5.2 billion transactions worth €875.9 billion in 2025 (up 10.7% by volume and 12.8% by value), or an average of 14.2 million retail payments a day worth €2.4 billion (Banco de Portugal, Relatório dos Sistemas de Pagamentos 2025)
Wallets
MB WAYMobile wallet built on Multibanco: P2P, MB NET (a single-use virtual card), and in-store QR payments. It is the whole country’s gateway to mobile payments.SIBS · since 2015
Other
PayshopCash collection network at neighborhood stores, essential for the unbanked and underbanked population and for cash-on-delivery e-commerce.SIBS (via Payshop Portugal) · since 2001