New Ten-Year Treasury Certificates Draw Nearly €300 Million From Savers in a Month
The Certificados do Tesouro Série 5 raised about €297.7 million from 8,300 subscribers in July, their debut month. The ten-year product pays a fixed step-up rate rising from 2.35% to 3.35%, with early redemption allowed after year one, and is managed by the IGCP.
Portugal's newest state savings product has drawn a brisk response from small savers in its opening month, raising close to 300 million euros since it went on sale. The Certificados do Tesouro Série 5 (Treasury Certificates, Series 5, or CTS5) took in roughly 297.7 million euros during July, its debut month, signalling steady household appetite for the low-risk, state-backed savings the product is designed to offer.
The money came from about 8,300 subscribers, an average of some 28,200 euros each — a profile that points to committed savers moving meaningful sums rather than a rush of small first deposits. The certificates replace the previous Treasury product and were approved by the Ministério das Finanças (Ministry of Finance) on 3 July 2026, with the state debt agency, the IGCP (Agência de Gestão da Tesouraria e da Dívida Pública), handling their management and distribution.
The appeal lies in the structure. CTS5 is a ten-year, fixed-rate instrument with a step-up schedule that rewards savers for staying invested: the annual rate starts at 2.35% in the first year, rises to 2.45% in years two and three, 2.65% in years four and five, 2.75% in years six and seven, 2.85% in years eight and nine, and reaches 3.35% in the tenth year. Because the rates are set in advance, subscribers know exactly what each year will pay, an unusual degree of certainty at a time when bank deposit rates have been drifting lower.
Crucially for savers wary of locking money away for a decade, the product allows early redemption after the first year, giving holders access to their capital without waiting out the full term. That flexibility, combined with the sovereign guarantee behind the certificates, is aimed squarely at what the Treasury calls pequenos aforradores (small savers) — households with modest liquidity needs looking for a safe home for savings rather than the higher returns and higher risk of the stock market.
The launch fits a longer trend of Portuguese families channelling savings into state debt instruments, which have offered competitive returns with none of the volatility of equities. Retail savings products have become an increasingly important source of funding for the Portuguese state, and a growing share of the national debt is now held directly by households rather than institutional investors — a shift that gives the Treasury a stable, domestically anchored funding base.
For residents weighing where to park spare cash, the debut of CTS5 widens the menu of government-backed options at a moment when the direction of interest rates is uncertain. The fixed, rising schedule offers predictability that variable-rate alternatives cannot, though the trade-off is a ten-year horizon and a first-year lock-up. The nearly 300 million euros gathered in a single month suggests that, for a substantial group of Portuguese savers, that trade-off is one they are willing to make.
