They move like chairs. Will the capital market change in Portugal?
In addition to the victory of the Portuguese Football Team against Uruguay (2-0), which marked the start of the week, here, and in the economic area, there is a highlight for the change of seats at the Securities Market Commission (CMVM) and at the Insurance and Pension Funds Supervisory Authority (ASF). The presentation ceremony of the official bodies of the CMVM and the ASF took place yesterday. In institutions as relevant to the market as these, for decades (the CMVM was created on May 10, 1991 and the ASF was born on November 17, 1982, with the designation of ISP) only men in suits and ties occupied the chairs of the power . But the situation has been changing.
Women (with merit) have entered and will continue to ascend to the administrations of these and other organizations that structure the economy of a country. In this case, the vice-president of the CMVM is now a woman, Maria Inês Ferreira Drumond de Sousa, the chairman of the board of directors Luís Laginha de Sousa and the members of the board of directors include Teresa Maria Pereira Gil and also Juliano Filipe Loureiro Ferreira. The ASF has two new members: Maria Adelaide Rodrigues Marques Cavaleiro and José Diogo Duarte Santos de Alarcão e Silva, both in the positions of members of the board of directors. Care was taken to choose women and men, in the same number, instead of what happened for years.
On that occasion, the Minister of Finance reaffirmed his confidence in the institutions and their new managers and added the need to have “rejuvenated teams with a diversity of experience”. It will be this “rejuvenated” team that will have to roll up its sleeves and set in motion a package of tax measures to support the capital market that the Executive is preparing. It will be a package that “will support the development of the capital market and long-term savings in Portugal”, said Fernando Medina. And very accurate! Unlike other countries, in Portugal the capital market has long ceased to be attractive for small investors, and even for large ones. With the end of “popular capitalism”, less and less individuals and companies resort to the capital market. And at an inevitable time like the one we are experiencing and on the verge of a slowdown from January onwards, as companies will feel the need to find new forms of financing, and the capital market can and should be one of the solutions.
The government has assured that it wants to change the current reality with the help of supervisory and regulatory bodies. In short, the pressure has already begun. Medina warned: “We face months of converging highs with the pandemic, the war in Ukraine and also in the context of rising interest rates”, and in this scenario, regulation and supervision play a fundamental role. We will be attentive to see and believe.
Director of Diário de Notícias