São Tomé and Príncipe

Not yet checkedChecked 2026-11-14 · confidence low

No Islamic finance rule, licence or takaful was found in the central bank's bank and insurer lists or in the five latest legal texts it shows, but its full list of 101 legal texts could not be read and the 1992 financial institutions law is a scanned image.

Five checks

Banking rulesNot checked

Not a CEMAC or CIMA member. The BCSTP legislation page shows 5 of 101 legal texts by default (the rest load only after a form submission, which was not done); none of the 5 is about Islamic finance. The 1992 financial institutions law (Diário da República No. 9 of 1992) is a scan; a rough machine reading found no Islamic term, but this does not prove absence.

Licensed banks and windowsNot found
Sukuk issuedNot checked
Takaful (non-interest insurance)Not found

BCSTP supervises insurers. Its list of insurance companies names two, SAAR S.Tomé e Príncipe and NICON SEGUROS, and neither is described as a takaful operator.

Capital market rulesNot checked

No securities regulator, exchange or capital-market law was identified. Government bonds (Obrigações do Tesouro) are issued through BCSTP. Absence of a regulator could not be confirmed at a primary source.

Still open

Points we could not confirm at source yet.

  • Does any of the 101 BCSTP legal texts (NAP regulations) mention Islamic finance? Only 5 could be listed.
  • Is there a newer financial institutions law than the 1992 text?
  • Does São Tomé and Príncipe have any securities regulator or capital-market law?
  • BCSTP lists five commercial banks (Afriland First Bank STP, BISTP, Ecobank STP, BGFI Bank STP, GTI Bank); none is an Islamic bank and no Islamic window was found.
Where we searched
  • bcstp.st: Legislações e Normas (first 5 of 101 texts; remaining entries need a form postback, not done), Bancos Comerciais, Empresas de Seguro, Financial Stability Report 2023 (text searched; no Islamic or capital-market item)
  • bcstp.st: Lei de Instituições Financeiras (Dr_n.9.92.pdf), scanned; English-language OCR found no Islamic term (low reliability)
  • Web searches (Portuguese and English): finança islâmica / banco islâmico São Tomé; valores mobiliários lei; Islamic Development Bank São Tomé