Portugal’s bond agency appoints new head

Miguel Martins, the executive director of concessionaire Ascendi is to succeed Cristina Casalinho to run Portugal’s debt, treasury and sovereign bond agency IGCP.

Martins has left Ascendi – a toll motorway concession management company — and will take over at the IGCP from economist Cristina Casalinho who leaves this week.
The choice of successor was made by the Minster of Finance, Fernando Medina. Miguel Martins has already had experience managing the public Portuguese water utility company Águas de Portugal between 2016-2019.
Mendes name has already been sent to CREASP – the Commission for the Recruitment and Selection for Public Administration Companies – and is awaiting approval.
In his LinkedIn profile the manager describes himself as a “financial manager geared towards business”, with experience in ‘project finance’, project management and managing relations with public regulators and agencies.
Officially, the Ministry of Finances has declined to comment about the choice, but a source close to the government told ECO online who broke the story that Fernando Medina valued his experience as a financial administrator, and an administrator in regulated sectors such as energy, banking and water.
The Minister of Finances has defined the goals for the new executive, the most important being to position Portugal’s national public debt in the form of sovereign bonds as an attractive asset for investors, while at the same time pursuing a strategy to improve Portugal’s ratings with the international ratings agencies.
Miguel Martins will also have to innovate with debt instruments aligned with the latest trends such as ‘green’ bonds, but also enhancing the relationship with the retail client, meaning private individual investors who invest in government bonds.