The origins of the Anglo-Portuguese Bank lie in the Banco Nacional Ultramarino

Banco Nacional Ultramarino

Banco Nacional Ultramarino was a Portuguese bank with operations throughout the world, especially in Portugal's former overseas provinces. It ceased existence as an independent legal entity in Portugal following its merger with Caixa Geral de Depósitos, the government-owned savings bank, in...

 (BNU). The BNU, which had been founded in Lisbon in 1864, established a branch in London in 1919. Ten years later, BNU incorporated its branch as the Anglo-Portuguese Colonial and Overseas Bank. (That same year BNU also incorporated its Paris branch as Banque Franco-Portugaise d’Outre-Mer.) In 1955 Anglo-Portuguese Colonial and Overseas Bank changed its name to Anglo-Portuguese Bank.

At some point Sir Isaac Wolfson

Isaac Wolfson

Sir Isaac Wolfson, 1st Baronet FRS was a businessman and philanthropist. He was managing director of Great Universal Stores 1932-1947 and chairman 1947-1987. He established the Wolfson Foundation to distribute most of his fortune to good causes. Great Universal Stores was a mail order business...

 acquired Anglo-Portuguese. In 1975 Norwich Union acquired the bank and two years later the name changed again, this time to AP Bank. In 1987 Riggs National Bank

Riggs Bank

Riggs Bank was a Washington, D.C.-based commercial bank with branches located in the surrounding metropolitan area and offices around the world. For most of its history, it was the largest bank in the nation's capital. Riggs had been controlled by the Albritton family since the 1980s, but they lost...

, of Washington, DC, purchased AP Bank to form Riggs Bank Europe.

The Anglo-Portuguese Bank operated in Brazil, Mozambique, India (Goa), Macao, Timor, Cape Verde, Guinea, S.Tome and Principe. As part of BNU, the branch issued banknote.

There had been an earlier Anglo-Portuguese Bank, which in 1863 had merged with the London and Brazilian Bank. Both banks had been founded in 1862.