Lisbon, Oct. 8, 2025 (Lusa) - The CEO of the Portuguese Millennium BCP bank, Miguel Maya, said on Wednesday that Portugal has "everything it needs" to "emerge as one of the winners" in the new world order that is taking shape.
"Portugal has everything it needs in this new environment, in this new world order that is taking shape, to emerge as one of the winners. We have human talent, new generations that are extremely well qualified, a location that is attractive to top executives, and a size that does not cause concern to the major powers but allows us access to more markets," said Miguel Maya at the opening of the Millennium Talks COTEC Innovation Summit.
In his speech at the event held today at the Lisbon International Fair (FIL), the banker pointed out that the world is undergoing a transition to a new order that will require adjustments in the business fabric and social life.
Among the changes are climate change and the energy transition - whose goals he considered difficult to achieve due to global fragmentation - or wars and upheavals, "such as the invasion of Ukraine or the horror" that is taking place in Palestine, among other less publicised conflicts.
In addition, he noted that the discourse on migration cannot be as simplistic as a "yes or no" answer, and that the integration of migrants must be done in a profound way and that economic and population growth must go through planned and not uncontrolled diversity.
"The issue is how to integrate, how to ensure that we have a solid, cohesive culture and that we have a country that can prosper and has the capacity to attract and retain talent, regardless of nationality," he said.
Miguel Maya also advocated strengthening the business fabric and the economy to generate more value.
Within the economy, he recalled the recovery that Portuguese banks have made over the last ten years, citing a Moody's analysis that ranked Portuguese banks as the second most robust in Europe, behind only Norway.
"Who could have said this ten years ago? It's not just BCP. And this in a context that was highly unfavourable to banks," including negative interest rates.
According to the banker, the sector had to make decisions that were "very difficult and highly criticised at times", but which had a clear purpose: "the interests of the banking sector had to be absolutely aligned with the interests of the real economy".
In this regard, and highlighting the recovery in the Lisbon stock market prices - "clearly above the European index" - Miguel Maya welcomed the A rating received by the bank after 16 years.
At the beginning of the month, the financial rating agency Morningstar DBRS raised BCP's rating, including its long-term rating, from ‘BBB’ (“high”) to ‘A’ (“low”).
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