Multipass is a financial services provider offering global business accounts, multi-currency payments, and cross-border transaction solutions.
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Digital Banking
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Portugal · EMI
Digital banking for e-money institutions authorised in Portugal
Around 7 million people in Portugal use MB WAY, and Multibanco has shaped how the country pays since 1985. A new e-money app has to feel just as quick. Get a branded front end, accounts and cards, while your team in Portugal runs the institution.
- Branded web and mobile apps
- E-money accounts, IBANs and cards
- Instant euro transfers
- Back office for your management in Portugal
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What a Portuguese EMI can offer its customers
An e-money account opened on the phone
Registration, onboarding questionnaire, identity check through a connected provider, then an IBAN and a card. Your team writes the Portuguese terms and notices.
Payments that arrive in seconds
SEPA Instant in and out, plus regular SEPA and SWIFT transfers from the same account, with push notifications when money moves.
Cards customers control
Cards issued by API through a pre-integrated issuer, with per-card limits and settings. You contract the issuer directly.
Accounts for freelancers and small firms
A business questionnaire at onboarding, saved counterparties and batch transfers that are approved before they go out.
Clear prices
Fees come from price lists your team keeps in the back office, so a tariff change needs no developer.
What this licence does not cover
- Deposits or other repayable funds. Money received must be exchanged for e-money without delay.
- Lending from the funds received for e-money. Credit is only possible when linked to a payment service, and it must be reported to the Banco de Portugal's credit register.
- Running the firm from abroad. Head office and effective management must be in Portugal, with part of the main business carried out there.
What the regulator asks about your IT
Each requirement, what the platform gives you for it and who owns it after launch.
Technology costs per launch stage for the three-year forecast accounts in your business plan.
You, with our inputBalance and transaction reports from the platform, which your finance team uses to reconcile against the safeguarding account.
Your finance team, on platform dataAccount balance reports that give the e-money outstanding your own funds calculation starts from.
Your finance teamApps localized to more than 15 languages. Contracts and notices in Portuguese come from your team.
You, with our inputTwo-factor login and payment confirmation in the web and mobile apps.
CrassulaOnboarding questionnaires, identity checks through connected providers and client limits. Ongoing monitoring runs in your own tool.
Your compliance officer, with a connected providerHosting, security, incident process, subcontractors and exit plan described for your register of information.
You, with our input
Payment rails and providers
Rails your customers can use
SEPA Credit TransferSEPA InstantSEPA Direct DebitSWIFTCard payments
24/7
real-time processing, no batch window
60+
payment and provider integrations connected
150+
companies run on Crassula
15+
languages the platform speaks
Dates to plan around
Rules that change what you have to build, in the order they apply.
17 Jan 2025
DORA applies, so ICT risk management and outsourcing records are part of every EMI's supervision.
Mar 2025
MB WAY users can send money instantly to Bizum users in Spain and Bancomat users in Italy, which raises the bar for cross-border P2P.
9 Oct 2025
Portuguese EMIs offering euro credit transfers must give payers a check of the payee's name against the IBAN.
9 Apr 2027
Euro area EMIs must send and receive SEPA Instant payments.
Around 2028
PSD3 is expected to apply once published in the Official Journal. EMIs then move into a single payment institution regime.
Preparing a Banco de Portugal EMI application? Name us in your file.
The RJSPME asks for a programme of operations that names the technical means you will use and the third parties that run operational functions. We give you a working platform to describe and help write those parts of the file.
01
A platform you can demonstrate
A configured environment to show the regulator, not slides.
02
The technical part of your application, prepared
IT systems, security, customer authentication, outsourcing and DORA sections of your Banco de Portugal file.
03
Providers lined up
Banking, safeguarding and KYC providers from our network, matched to your licence.
Crassula provides technology and documentation support. We do not provide legal or regulatory advice and cannot guarantee the outcome of an application.
A Lisbon e-money app, from file to launch
A Lisbon team designs an account for people paid in several currencies, such as remote workers and returning emigrants. Their Banco de Portugal file describes the platform, the card issuer and the safeguarding bank, and our environment shows how each top-up is turned into e-money and protected.
While the Banco de Portugal assesses the file, they finish the Portuguese terms and test SEPA Instant transfers end to end. After authorisation they launch in Portugal and later passport to Spain.
More detail: our Portugal EMI and PI guide and EMI licensing in the EU.
Read the licence guides
FAQ
Three months from a complete application, and no later than 12 months after the first submission. If the file is incomplete, the three months run from the day the missing information arrives.
Yes. The RJSPME lets it decide which protection method an EMI must use: a separate account at a credit institution, secure low-risk assets, or insurance or a guarantee from an outside insurer or bank.
Low-risk debt assets defined by reference to the EU Capital Requirements Regulation, and units in UCITS funds that invest only in such assets. The Banco de Portugal can exclude specific assets.
MB WAY is run by SIBS for its participating institutions. Whether you join is a decision for you and SIBS. Inside your own app, SEPA Instant already moves euros in seconds.
The law says information to payment service users is given in Portuguese unless both sides agree on another language. The apps are localized to more than 15 languages, and the contract texts are yours to write.
Yes. Setting up a branded demo environment takes as little as 10 business days.
