WFY’26: Portugal’s factoring market passes €50bn as penetration reaches 20.7%

Portugal’s factoring industry reached a historic milestone in 2025, with total turnover surpassing €50bn for the first time as domestic factoring and confirming recorded double-digit growth. In this country report, Vitor Graça, Secretary General of the Portuguese Association of Leasing, Factoring and Renting, examines the forces behind the market’s acceleration and factoring’s increasingly important role in corporate working-capital finance.

The article included in the World Factoring Yearbook 2026 (WFY’26) explores a market where total volume reached €51.5bn in 2025, confirming remained the single largest product segment and factoring penetration climbed above 20% of GDP. It also considers the role of digitalisation, electronic invoicing, SME liquidity pressures and regulatory developments shaping the sector’s next phase.

Below is an excerpt from his article.

Portugal’s factoring industry achieved a landmark milestone in 2025, surpassing EUR 50bn in total turnover for the first time in its history. Market statistics collected and analysed by the Associação Portuguesa de Leasing, Factoring e Renting (ALF) reveal that total factoring volume reached EUR 51.5bn in 2025, representing a growth of 12.7 per cent compared to EUR 45.7bn in 2024. This result reflects an acceleration in growth momentum, building on the consistent gains of recent years. The performance was broad-based, with all major segments recording positive results, with the exception of import factoring. Domestic factoring grew by 16.3 per cent, up to EUR 21.8bn; confirming (reverse factoring) advanced by 11.7 per cent, to EUR 23.6bn; and international factoring expanded by 4.6 per cent, to EUR 6.1bn. With nominal GDP reaching approximately EUR 307bn in 2025, factoring penetration rose to around 20 per cent of GDP, further consolidating the industry’s role as an essential financing instrument for the Portuguese economy.

The Portuguese factoring market delivered its strongest annual performance on record in 2025, with total turnover reaching EUR 51.5bn, an increase of EUR 5.8bn or 12.7 per cent compared to EUR 45.7bn in 2024. This result represents a significant acceleration relative to the 3.4 per cent growth recorded the previous year and confirms the structural upward trajectory that has characterised the market since 2015, with the sole exception of the pandemic year of 2020.

The standout performer in 2025 was domestic recourse factoring, which surged by 23.4 per cent to EUR 10.9bn – an exceptional result reflecting a strong SME uptake, positive economic sentiment and dynamism amongst factors. This compares with a more modest performance in previous years and signals a renewed appetite among companies to use recourse instruments as a cost-effective liquidity tool. Non-recourse domestic factoring also grew meaningfully, by 10.1 per cent to EUR 11.0bn, as companies continued to seek protection against debtor default risk. Together, total domestic factoring reached EUR 21.8bn, up 16.3 per cent – its most dynamic annual growth in several years.

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