The Portuguese channel their savings mainly into bank deposits and savings certificates, with an even smaller share of those who choose to invest, according to a study by the TGM Research Institute.
According to a study by TGM Research Institute, prepared for Xtb, 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 196,861 million euros in August, and the 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, according to the Bank of Portugal (BdP).
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.
This is the lowest remuneration on term deposits by Portuguese banks since April 2023 (1.14%) and represents a drop of 1.74 percentage points since December 2023, the month in which it reached 3.08%, the highest value since July 2012.
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).
The European Commission therefore defends the creation of savings accounts that allow small investments, which do not yet exist in Portugal, speaking of 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 that 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.
In Portugal, these accounts do not yet exist. Other existing options are term deposits and traditional savings accounts (safe, but with low returns), savings certificates (issued by the State, with guaranteed capital and variable interest), Retirement Savings Plans – PPR (with tax benefits and focus on retirement) and funds or shares for investors with greater risk tolerance.
The majority of Portuguese maintain a conservative profile and invest in financial products with guaranteed capital.
With regard to savings certificates, the amount invested in August stood at 38,547 million euros, a growth of 13.6% year-on-year.
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 CTT mobile phone application, which started to have this functionality in July 2024, and subscriptions through this route have already exceeded 150 million euros.
Today marks World Savings Day, created by the World Society of Savings Banks to promote personal savings and strengthen people’s economic self-sufficiency.
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