Governor of the Bank of Portugal asked to explain his predecessor’s reform to Parliament

On Wednesday, the parliamentary Committee on Budget, Finance and Public Administration unanimously approved a motion by the far-right party Chega to hear from the Governor of the Bank of Portugal (BdP), Álvaro Santos Pereira, and board member Helena Maria Martins Adegas regarding the early retirement of former Governor Mário Centeno.

The motion was passed with the votes of the PSD and PS, which removed the need for Chega to invoke its right of initiative to secure the parliamentary hearing.

In presenting the motion, Chega MP Eduardo Teixeira described Mário Centeno’s retirement at the age of 59 as “unusual” and “disproportionate”, highlighting the contrast with the legal retirement age in Portugal, currently set at 66 years and 9 months.

“This is a matter that needs to be discussed, particularly to understand the motivations of those who put forward the proposal. There can be no ‘golden seats’, especially when we are talking about a public body such as the Bank of Portugal. There must be transparency and scrutiny”, he stated, admitting that the party could resort to its right of initiative to ensure the motion’s approval.

This move prompted PSD and PS to reveal how they intended to vote. Speaking on behalf of PSD, Hugo Carneiro assured that the Social Democrats saw “no problem” with the initiative and would support it, thereby removing the need for exceptional procedural measures.

The MP also criticised reports broadcast on the radio that morning, according to which the two parties were said to be constrained by Chega’s motion. “It is precisely the opposite: we have no problem at all in supporting this initiative”, he stated.

The PS also announced it would vote in favour, albeit with reservations regarding the proposal’s development. António Mendonça Mendes pointed out that the approved motion “does not correspond” to the one initially presented, but nevertheless considered its implementation legitimate.

“Chega is a defender of central bank independence — which does not mean a lack of scrutiny. On the contrary, we consider it appropriate that there should be oversight”, said the Socialist MP.

The hearing that has now been approved is expected to focus on the terms and grounds for Mário Centeno’s early retirement, an issue that has sparked political controversy and raised questions about the transparency of the public institution.

Mário Centeno, former governor of the Bank of Portugal, “reached an agreement to retire at the age of 59, an early retirement with scandalous benefits from a financial point of view and in terms of the monthly remuneration paid, close to his salary of 17 to 20 thousand euros every month”, criticised the president of Chega, André Ventura, at a press conference at the party’s headquarters in Lisbon last Sunday, when he announced the initiative.

CDS requests access to the Bank of Portugal’s decision and Centeno’s salary history

Meanwhile, the parliamentary group of the CDS-PP (Christian Democratic Party) has submitted a request asking the Bank of Portugal to disclose detailed documentation regarding the award of a pension to former governor Mário Centeno, following reports suggesting a monthly gross amount of around €10,000. In the document, addressed to the parliamentary Committee on Budget, Finance and Public Administration, MPs question the circumstances in which the decision was taken, emphasising that Centeno was still just a few months away from meeting the legal requirements — namely age and years of contributions — to retire under normal conditions.

The request seeks, amongst other things, “the minutes of the decision by the Board of Directors of the Bank of Portugal, the various pay scales and respective remuneration throughout Centeno’s tenure at the institution, as well as the number of years of contributions and how this corresponds to the amount of the pension awarded”, according to the document to which ECO had access. The CDS-PP thus aims to ascertain whether the criteria applied are consistent with the rules in force and whether the amount of the pension is duly justified in view of the former governor’s contribution history.

The motion will only be put to a vote at a future meeting, as the presence of all parliamentary groups on the Parliamentary Committee on the Budget, Finance and Public Administration is required, and parties such as Livre, the Portuguese Communist Party (PCP), the Left Bloc (BE) and PAN (People-Animals-Nature) were absent.

ECO asked the Bank of Portugal and Mário Centeno about the exact amount of the pension, but received no reply. According to ECO’s calculations, based on the pension fund regulations, the former governor is likely to have received a pension of just over 80% of his final salary. At the time of leaving the post of governor, Mário Centeno was earning a gross salary of around €19,500 per month, but this figure fell after he was replaced by Álvaro Santos Pereira.

After more than two decades as a senior official at the Bank of Portugal — having served as governor between 2020 and 2025 — Mário Centeno signed, last week, the agreement allowing him to retire, ceasing to work at that institution.

According to ECO’s findings, Centeno already met the conditions for retirement, but the initiative to formalise this status came from the Bank of Portugal itself, which is said to have put forward this proposal to him. When questioned by ECO, Mário Centeno declined to comment on the situation and did not disclose the amount of the pension he will receive. The Bank of Portugal also provided no information regarding this agreement.

Centeno will now move to ISEG — where he teaches — to temporarily occupy the office previously assigned to João Duque, which the latter no longer uses as he now occupies the office of the school’s president. Nevertheless, in the short term, Mário Centeno’s future lies in the United States.

The former governor will spend the next three weeks teaching at the University of Miami as a visiting professor, something that had already been planned even before his retirement was formalised. He will then return to ISEG, but his future remains open after that.

Upon stepping down as governor of the Bank of Portugal, António Costa’s former finance minister stated that he would remain at the bank as a consultant, a role that now comes to an end. At a parliamentary hearing in September, he made it clear: “It is obvious that I am staying. Do you know what 35 years of a career means?”, he told MPs.

“I have been a bank employee for 35 years. I have a career at the bank, which has very clear rules on what staff do and where they work after leaving the board of directors”, he added. As a consultant following the end of his term as governor, he would receive a salary of around €17,000 gross.

Since last Friday, ECO has sent several questions to the Bank of Portugal, but the bank provided only a brief written clarification on Monday: “The Board of Directors of the Bank of Portugal approved the terms of Professor Mário Centeno’s departure, agreed between the parties under the retirement scheme governed by the Bank of Portugal’s existing pension fund for employees hired up to March 2009.”

At issue is the defined-benefit pension fund, which covers the institution’s employees who joined up to 2009. Under the fund’s regulations, consulted by ECO, there are four types of retirement: old-age retirement (when the employee reaches the normal retirement age under the social security scheme); on reaching the age limit, or presumed disability, when the employee reaches the age of 65; or early retirement, when the employee is aged 50 or over or has 15 or more years’ service, at their own request and with the agreement of the Bank of Portugal; and retirement due to disability.