The US-headquartered business said Europe is a "strategic priority." A number of international wealth managers have opened Lisbon offices in recent years.

Luma Financial Technologies, the capital-markets based alternatives platform, has opened an office in Lisbon, Portugal.

The firm, which has more than $150 billion in assets under administration, has been building a team of software engineers and support engineers in the Portuguese city to provide localised support to its Europe, Middle East and Africa, and Asia-Pacific business. Luma is backed by Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Morgan Stanley, and UBS.

Luma, headquartered in Cincinnati, Ohio, first entered the European market in 2021, opening a Zurich office; it services wealth managers and private banks. 

“Europe is a strategic priority for Luma and Lisbon is the ideal location to base our next office and engineering centre,” Tim Bonacci, Luma’s CEO and president, said. 

Besides its Ohio HQ, Luma also has offices in New York, Miami and, as previously mentioned, Zurich. The business was launched in 2011. It is used by firms to automate and optimise the full process cycle for offering and transacting in market-linked investments. This includes education and certification; creating and pricing custom structures; order entry; and post-trade actions. 

Lisbon saw the arrival of another US-headquartered investments platform business, iCapital, in November 2022. Indosuez Wealth Management, part of Crédit Agricole, opened a branch in Lisbon in March this year. 

While Portugal is one of the countries operating what are dubbed "golden visas," it has ameneded its scheme to exclude property assets as an investment route, following political controversy over rising real estate prices.