Crédito Agrícola Group

The Crédito Agrícola Group (CA Group) is a cooperative banking group in Portugal. It is centered on the Caixa Central de Crédito Agrícola Mútuo (CCCAM) in Lisbon and includes 67 additional local agricultural credit cooperatives (Portuguese: Caixa de Crédito Agrícola Mútuo) as of 1 September 2025. It had total consolidated assets of €27.3 billion as of end-2024.

Overview

The Portuguese system of local agricultural cooperatives traces its roots to legislation of 1 March 1911 adopted under the leadership of minister Manuel de Brito Camacho, based on preparatory work that had started before the 1910 Revolution, and complemented by further legislation in 1914 and 1919. This initiative was in turn inspired by the pioneering initiatives of Friedrich Wilhelm Raiffeisen in 19th-century Germany. In 1929, the local agricultural cooperative banks came under oversight of the state-owned Caixa Geral de Depósitos (CGD).

In 1978 in the wake of the Carnation Revolution, the local cooperatives established a national representative body, the National Federation of Mutual Agricultural Credit Banks or FENACAM (Portuguese: Federação Nacional das Caixas de Crédito Agrícola Mútuo). Subsequent legislation made them independent from the CGD in 1982, and established instead the CCCAM as dedicated central financial entity on 20 June 1984. In 1987, this framework was complemented by the creation of a Mutual Agricultural Credit Guarantee Fund (Fundo de Garantia do Crédito Agrícola Mútuo, FGCAM). On 1 January 2000, the FGCAM was transformed into a mutual support arrangement under private law known as the Mutual Agricultural Credit Support Fund (Fundo de Assistência do Crédito Agrícola Mútuo, FACAM).