At 39, Leonildo João Lourenço Manuel takes the helm of the Administração Geral Tributária (AGT), Angola’s tax administration. His appointment, officially announced on September 9, is seen as a generational renewal at the head of the institution. Already familiar with the organization, the new tax chief knows both its inner workings and the challenges ahead.
Leonildo João Lourenço Manuel has been appointed Chairman of the board of directors of the AGT, replacing José Leiria. The latter is stepping down from the operational management of the tax administration to become Secretary of State for Tax Affairs.
The presidential decree published on September 9 also confirms the appointment of Esperança Joblina Francisco Vieira to the AGT’s board of directors.
Leonildo Manuel’s appointment is above all the culmination of a career that has gradually brought him closer to the heart of the state’s financial policy. An AGT board member since 2021, he already knows the institution from within and has for several years been involved in designing and implementing its tax policies and procedures.
His appointment as chairman comes at a time when the AGT is expected to play an increasingly important role in mobilizing public revenue and modernizing Angola’s tax system. This challenge is consistent with the new chairman’s career trajectory: that of a lawyer who has built his career across different fields, from banking law to financial markets, and then from regulation to taxation.
From Capital Markets to Tax Administration
Before joining the AGT in 2022, Leonildo Manuel worked at Banco de Comércio e Indústria (BCI), a major Angolan state-owned bank, where he served as an adviser to the board of directors. In August 2020, at the age of 33, while retaining his position as adviser, he was promoted to head of the department responsible for debt recovery. In this capacity, he took part in the bank’s restructuring and privatization process, carried out through a share auction on the stock exchange.
International Experience
Previously, from January 2019 to May 2020, he worked in Lisbon at the law firm Vieira de Almeida (VdA), where he served as an international adviser specializing in banking and finance.
From 2013 to 2019, Leonildo Manuel worked at Angola’s Capital markets commission (CMC). He held several positions there, including Head of division in the regulatory policies and standards department and adviser to the commission’s chairman. In this role, he contributed to the development and implementation of Angola’s regulatory and supervisory framework for capital markets. This experience brought him into direct contact with issues relating to regulation, compliance and oversight.
Early Career in Banking Law
Leonildo Manuel began his career at the age of 23 at Banco de Poupança e Crédito (BPC), a major state-owned bank in Angola. From January 2011 to July 2013, he worked there as a Senior Lawyer, gaining his first professional experience in an environment where legal issues are directly intertwined with the financial and operational challenges of a banking institution. In this role, he was notably involved in the analysis and preparation of financial contracts, a field requiring both legal rigor and an understanding of banking mechanisms. He was also responsible for disciplinary proceedings and for providing legal advice on banking financing operations.
Strong Academic Background
Leonildo Manuel holds a bachelor’s degree in law, a postgraduate diploma in financial markets and a master’s degree in law from Agostinho Neto university’s faculty of law, where he also lectures in commercial law. He has obtained several postgraduate qualifications in economic analysis of law, banking law and fintech (financial technologies) from the Centre for private law research (Centro de Investigação de Direito Privado) at the faculty of law of the University of Lisbon. He also holds a postgraduate diploma in tax litigation from the faculty of law of the portuguese catholic university (2022), as well as a postgraduate diploma in regulation and competition awarded by the Centre for public law and regulatory studies at the faculty of law of the university of Coimbra (2019).
Leonildo Manuel also completed the advanced management program (AMP), jointly organized by Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management in Chicago and Católica Lisbon School of Business & Economics, in September 2023. In addition, in 2016, he obtained the Global Certificate Program for Regulators of Securities Markets, organized by IOSCO (International Organization of Securities Commissions) in Madrid and by PIFS (Program on International Financial Systems) at Harvard Law School in Massachusetts.
In 2018, he was a founding member and served as chairman of the board of directors of the Angola Corporate Governance Association (ACGA) until March 2025. He is also a member of the Governance Lab, the Portuguese Institute of Corporate Governance and the Brazilian Institute of Corporate Governance. He is also a researcher at the Centre for Private Law Research at the University of Lisbon.
