Decree-Law no. 52/2010, of 26 May 2010, amended the procedural rules and evaluation criteria for prudential assessment of an intended acquisition and increase of qualifying holdings in financial entities.

The referred Decree-Law amends: (i) the thresholds triggering a prior authorization from the regulator for the acquisition, increase or decrease of holdings in financial entities; (ii) the rules on aggregation of holdings for purposes of assessing if a threshold has been reached.

These amendments apply to holdings in Credit Institutions, Financial Companies, Insurance and Reinsurance Companies, Investment Consultancy Companies, Regulated Market Management Companies and Multilateral Trading System Management Companies, among others.

Decree-Law no. 52/2010 entered into force on 27 May 2010. When- ever due to the new rules a threshold is reached, the shareholder is under the duty to inform the Bank of Portugal of such qualified holding within 60 days as of entering into force of the Decree-Law.

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