Natixis targets 1,000 staff in Lisbon by end-2028

Natixis plans to increase headcount at its new Lisbon competence centre to 1,000 by the end of 2028, chief executive Etienne Huret told ECO, in a sign of the French banking group’s continued expansion in Portugal. The move points to further growth in Portugal as a talent base for banking, technology and support functions within the wider BPCE group.

Natixis currently has nearly 200 employees in Lisbon and expects to reach 300 by the end of this year, Huret said. In Porto, where the group opened its first Portuguese centre in 2017, headcount has risen far beyond the initial 600-person target and now stands at about 3,200 to 3,300, with a likely ceiling of 3,500. “By the summer of 2028, we will be 4,000 at Natixis in Portugal”, he said.

Huret said Lisbon was chosen after the group reviewed other cities in southern and eastern Europe, as well as Morocco, and concluded it could still tap Portuguese talent without the added complexity of entering a new country. He said recruitment in Lisbon has not been a problem, citing “thousands of unsolicited applications” and university outreach programmes. The bank is hiring across IT, middle and back office roles, digital marketing, data science, and market and credit risk, with a particular focus on younger recruits.

The executive said Natixis sees Portugal as strategically important within BPCE, which also now includes Novobanco. He said that could create career mobility between the two organisations over time, with employees potentially moving from Natixis to Novobanco or the other way around, although they remain under separate employment contracts.

Originally published at Eco.pt