The "Multibanco + Perto" project consists of providing Digital Automatic Payment Terminals (SmartPOS) that support 90% of the operations available at ATMs, namely cash dispensing, service payments, mobile phone top-ups, and balance and transaction inquiries.

Parishes without banking services

According to the Minister of Economy and Territorial Cohesion, Manuel Castro Almeida, more than 1,000 parishes lack banking services, and the main objective of this pilot project is to overcome this problem and bring ATM services to all parishes.

“There are the traditional ATM machines, which are more complex, more expensive, and more demanding, and then there are these services, which are an adaptation that have everything except for issuing the money, which will remain in the hands [vaults] of the parish councils to be able to give it out. In this initial phase, 30 terminals were installed,” explained the official in Tó, in the municipality of Mogadouro, district of Bragança.

According to Castro Almeida, “this project brings to the populations of the interior a service that was distant from them, which strengthens social and territorial cohesion.”

“This pilot project aims to expand the coverage of services so that the majority of the Portuguese population can access Multibanco services, that is, to cover about 700,000 more people than those who currently have this access,” he stressed.

Service availability

The next MULTIBANCO + Perto services are scheduled to be available this week in the parishes of Espírito Santo, Santana de Cambas and São Miguel do Pinheiro, São Pedro de Solis and São Sebastião dos Carros, in Mértola, in the district of Beja, and also soon in Coriscada, in the municipality of Mêda, district of Guarda.

The Minister added that the test was carried out in the village of Tó, which has fewer than 200 inhabitants, and that it was well received by the parish council.

"This only works during the parish council's opening hours; perhaps we will have to consider extending the opening hours so that people have access to this service for more hours," the Minister stressed.

Ongoing collaboration

The initiative arises from the collaboration between the Ministry of Economy and Territorial Cohesion, the Bank of Portugal (BdP), SIBS and the National Association of Parishes (ANAFRE).

According to the supervisory authority, the motivation for launching this service comes from the BdP report "Assessment of the Coverage of the ATM Network and Credit Institution Branches" of 2022, which identified 1,276 parishes (41% of the country's total) that do not have banking services within 5, 10, or 15 kilometres.

"It affects approximately 740,000 people [approximately 7% of the population]. This deprivation penalises local commerce and forces residents of these localities to travel several kilometres to carry out basic financial transactions," said the Ministry of Economy.

Most affected district

The choice of Bragança for the initiative's launch stems from its being identified as the district most affected by the lack of banking services.

"Of its 236 parishes, only 25 have banking and payment services nearby. The solution of Digital Automatic Payment Terminals (SmartPOS) allows for 90% of the operations available at ATMs, and additionally offers greater mobility, even allowing us to reach people who are limited and therefore cannot move around easily," he indicated.

However, there are parishes where the solution may involve providing an ATM to the population, a decision to be made based on the evaluation carried out by the pilot project now underway.