A regional branch of Madeira is the third-largest cash handling center of the Bank of Portugal, following Carregado [district of Lisbon] and the branch in Porto, revealed Álvaro Santos Pereira.
The official spoke at the inauguration of rehabilitation works for the headquarters in Madeira, located in the center of Funchal, in a ceremony attended by the President of the Regional Government (PSD/CDS-PP), Social Democrat Miguel Albuquerque.
“Besides managing deposits and withdrawals of notes and coins, the branch verifies the authenticity and quality of cash and destroys notes that are unfit to return to circulation,” he explained.
Álvaro Santos Pereira also highlighted the training programs promoted by the institution, which involved over 2,000 trainees in 2025, and emphasized that the Bank of Portugal now aims, through a protocol with the Regional Government, to strengthen its presence in schools regarding financial, statistical, and economic literacy.
The President of the Government of Madeira stated that the autonomous region is experiencing a “very important moment,” marked by uninterrupted economic growth for 54 months, with a rate exceeding the national average.
Miguel Albuquerque noted that the regional Gross Domestic Product (GDP) nearly doubled compared to 2015, when he took leadership of the executive, and this year it is around 8,000 million euros.
The insular governor said that the strategy adopted “is very simple,” explaining that it is based on balancing public finances and reducing taxes, with the maximum differential of 30% already covering all corporate tax rates and from 2026 will cover the nine brackets of the personal income tax (currently covering up to the 6th bracket).
“The tax reduction has had very important effects on the dynamics of our economy (…) and as we reduce taxes, we broaden the scope of revenue collection,” he said, adding that last year tax revenue increased by 17.8%.
“This means that this is the correct policy,” he reiterated.
The Bank of Portugal established the first agency in Madeira 150 years ago, on March 10, 1875, but the current regional branch headquarters, one of Funchal’s most iconic buildings designed by architect Edmundo Tavares, only became operational in 1941.
