The technological advances, the fierce competition among companies and the frequent social and market changes demand a constant search for effective methods, tools and processes of business management. There are firms that look for a sustainable competitive advantage to stand out from the other players that operate in the same globalized market segment. There are also companies that only adopt business survival strategies and others whose focus is strictly social, aiming at the development of society, environmental sustainability, among others. Within this context, project portfolio management practices is being increasingly adopted to improve processes or develop innovative products and services. One of the greatest challenges companies face is to define an appropriate projects prioritization process, to accomplish the strategic goals defined by top management. The objective of this work is to identify how this prioritization occurs in Brazilian financial institutions. The methodological procedures used is mainly bibliographical and field research, through cases studies with four Brazilian banks. The research results present business practices used in project priorization by the executive committee composed of representatives from different areas. Regulatory projects fulfill legal demands and are considered priorities. It is expected that the results should contribute to rise the knowledge about of the prioritization of projects, produzing new questionings about project portfolio management in Brazil.