Lisbon, June 26, 2025 (Lusa) - Older and wealthier households tend to participate more in capital markets and companies listed on the stock market tend to be more productive, according to a study by the Portuguese Securities Market Commission (CMVM).
In the “Study on the dynamisation of the capital markets in Portugal”, released on Thursday in Braga, the market regulator presented a picture of the sector in Portugal, with data on the impact on companies and households.
“In 2021, only 13% of Portuguese households held instruments that traded on the stock market; most of the financial wealth was concentrated in deposits (about 22% of the total wealth), while shares, bonds and funds totalled only 0.6%,” it noted.
According to the study, “participation in capital markets is strongly determined by household wealth, rather than income, and also reflects substitution effects with investment in owner-occupied housing”.
According to the CMVM, “older households, especially the wealthiest, tend to participate more in the markets; among the less wealthy, young people show a greater relative propensity”.
At the same time, “family composition also influences the decision”, with “the presence of pensioners boosting participation”, but “the presence of children tending to inhibit it”.
Higher levels of education within the household are also positively associated with participation in financial markets, as are the existence of net savings, voluntary pension plans and multiple savings objectives, risk tolerance and the level of development of national financial markets.
On the corporate side, “listing on the stock market is associated with greater use of long-term financing and higher levels of investment”, as well as “a reduction in the cost of debt and the tax burden of listed companies, but to a negligible extent”, it said.
According to the CMVM, “listed companies and their subsidiaries show higher productivity”, with “beneficiaries of venture capital distinguished by a greater propensity and intensity to export, while listed companies show a lower propensity to export”.
The results also show that “companies with private debt issuance present higher proportions of short-term debt and lower returns on equity”, with venture capital-backed companies showing “higher returns on equity”.
"In the Portuguese context, access to capital markets is associated, albeit in different ways depending on the financial instrument used, with significant advantages in terms of productivity, profitability and credit quality, confirming its potential as a complementary financing mechanism to traditional bank credit," it added.
The study was promoted by the CMVM and prepared by an academic consortium of the Universities of Minho, Porto and Coimbra.
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