The Portuguese channel their savings mainly for bank deposits and savings certificateswith an even smaller share of those who choose to invest, according to a study by the TGM Research Institute.
The study prepared for Xtb states that 32% of Portuguese people consider bank deposits to be the best way to invest money. 24% of respondents, in a sample of 1,000, prefer savings certificates, while 18% choose investment brokers.
In fact, the amount invested in deposits reached in August the 196,861 million euros, and stock continues to grow, but has been slowing down in recent months.
This is despite the remuneration of new term deposits for individuals following a downward trend, having fallen in August for the 20th consecutive month, to 1.34%, reaching the lowest value since April 2023 (1,14%)according to the Bank of Portugal (BdP). This reduction means a drop of 1.74 percentage points since December 2023, month in which it had reached 3.08%, the highest value since July 2012.
According to the banking supervisor, the average interest rate on new term deposits from individuals fell by 0.05 percentage points in August compared to July, compared to 2.56% in the same month of the previous year.
The tendency to keep money invested in term deposits also occurs at European level, with more than 11 billion euros in deposits in the European Union (EU).
Therefore, the European Commission defends the creation of savings accounts that allow small investments, which do not yet exist in Portugal, talking about a “good alternative” to traditional term deposits as they have a higher return.
In an interview with Portuguese journalists in Brussels, the Portuguese European Commissioner, Maria Luís Albuquerque, defended Brussels’ new strategy to make citizens’ savings profitable, commenting that this type of accounts “is clearly a good alternative” to term deposits in which “people think they won’t need this money in the near future”.
At issue are accounts provided by authorized financial service providers, including online, which allow small investors to invest amounts in capital markets instruments.
Other existing options are term deposits and traditional savings accounts (secure, but with low income), the savings certificates (issued by the State, with guaranteed capital and variable interest), the Retirement Savings Plans – PPR (with tax benefits and focus on reform) efundos or shares for investors with greater risk tolerance.
The majority of Portuguese maintain a conservative profile and bet on financial products with guaranteed capital.
With regard to savings certificates, the amount invested was in August 38,547 million euros, a growth of 13.6% in homologous terms.
This is the highest amount invested in savings certificates (CA) since the beginning of the BdP series, in December 1998 and represents an acceleration compared to the year-on-year growth of 12.6% in July.
August was, therefore, the 11th consecutive month of increase in the overall value of savings certificates.
The Portuguese can also now subscribe through the mobile phone application of the CTTwhich started to have this functionality in July 2024, and subscriptions through this channel have already exceeded 150 million euros.
Today marks the World Savings Daycreated by the World Society of Savings Banks to promote personal savings and strengthen people’s economic self-sufficiency.
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