Lessons Learned: Pedro Machado

Pedro Machado began his career as a legal adviser to the European Central Bank in the years leading up the Global Financial Crisis (GFC), then joined the Bank of Portugal (BOP) in 2006, where he has held several positions. He was chief of staff to Portugal’s minister of state and finance in 2011, during the European Sovereign Debt Crisis, when the government negotiated a bailout with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and European Union. He returned to the BOP, as deputy director of the prudential supervision department, while the program was being implemented. The EUR 78 billion bailout was largely a success, reducing deficits, improving Portugal’s bond yields, and eventually reducing unemployment below pre-GFC levels by the end of the decade. Machado joined the European Union’s Single Resolution Board (SRB) in 2020 as head of resolution planning and decisions.