Portugal’s security markets regulator says Portugal falls short of its economic potential in capital markets

Portugal’s securities regulator CMVM says that its new Strategy Plan for 2025-2028 establishes a sold basis for placing the capital markets to assist Portugal’s economic development.

During a panel debate entitled ‘Financing the Economy – The View of the Regulator’, the CMVM president, Luís Laginha de Sousa said that the capital markets were “crucial and indispensable” for the sustainable long-term growth of any economy, calling them a “complementary pillar to traditional bank financing”.

“When looking at the Portuguese situation, we can clearly see an imbalance in the way the economy is financed. There is too much incentive to the banking sector compared to capital markets financing. I think it should be more shared.

“That doesn’t mean reducing the level of the activity of the banks, but if we instruments to good use, the markets can also provide growth and opportunities to the banking sector itself”, he said as the CEO of the Association of Listed Companies quoted on the Stock Exchange (AEM), a post he shares with Abel Sequeira Ferreira.

According to the institution, Portugal falls short of its potential because it doesn’t take advantage of the capital markets although important progress had been made. The CMVM warned that without a significant investment in this mechanism of financing, the Portuguese economy would continue to be limited.

One of the main weaknesses identified was the lack of available long-term capital for investment. The CMVM head said it was essential to increase the amount of savings destined to finance the economy.

He said that in Europe, he said that this capital mostly came from long-term pension savings. However, the CMVM recognises that the topic is a hot one and is marked by ideological differences.

“We would solve lots of problems if we made the right choices”, he said, noting that the solutions were not rocket science and needed political and strategic willingness.

Miguel Athayde Marques of the AEM said at the end of Portugal Capital Markets Day 2025 that Portugal needed more listed companies and a stronger capital market that could help companies grow at each step of their development. “The investors baae should be stimulated”, he said.

The direct relationship between innovation and national and overseas qualified work to justify the growing competitiveness of the Portuguese economy wad discussed in a speech given by the CEO of the AEM entitled ‘Portugal – Attracting Talent as a Catalyst for Innovation and Growth’.

In seven years, Portugal had registered a 265% growth in the number of foreigners legally registered in the country of which a part had decisive qualifications that companies and institutions needed, particularly Portuguese multinationals listed in Lisbon.

Employability, quality of life and security are attracting young overseas professionals to Portugal which was confirmed by the representatives of Portuguese multinationals in a conversation moderated by the President of Euronext Lisbon, Isabel Ucha on the panel Unlocking Opportunities: Innovation, Physical Infrastructures and Industrial Projects.

This highly-qualified workforce with qualifications and skills in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics was driving growth in advanced economic sectors in Portugal through the development of new products and services.

“These immigrants create economic value because 39% have a university degree and are more qualified than the rest of the population”, said the CEO of EDP Innovation, António Coutinho.