Margarida Matos Rosa
Boards now operate inside a thicker regulatory perimeter than at any point in the post-2008 cycle, with competition, digital and capital markets rules tightening at EU and national level at once. Most leadership teams read these moves as compliance cost, not as a market signal. The blind spot is structural. Pricing, M&A, data strategy and capital allocation are all being repriced by regulators while executives still treat regulation as a downstream constraint.
Margarida Matos Rosa is the former President of Portugal’s Competition Authority and former ICN Vice-Chair, helping boards read how competition, digital and capital markets regulation reshape strategy, pricing and investment.
Full Profile
Why organisations work with Margarida Matos Rosa
- She has run a national competition regulator from the inside. Decisions on banking, telecoms, energy, health, digital services and advertising cartels passed across her desk between 2016 and 2023, giving her a working view of how cases are built, prioritised and defended.
- She has sat at the policy table that shapes EU and global competition rules, as ICN Vice-Chair for Growth and Recovery and as a Bureau member of the OECD Competition Committee. Few speakers can read the regulatory direction of travel from inside both bodies.
- Her background bridges competition policy and capital markets. Earlier roles at the Portuguese Securities Market Commission and at BNP Paribas, Santander Investment and UBS Bank mean she speaks credibly on the Savings and Investments Union, financial regulation and the cost of capital, not only antitrust.
- She translates regulation into board language. Boards leave with a sharper view of how competition enforcement, digital rules and capital markets integration affect their pricing, M&A pipeline and growth assumptions.
Biography highlights
- President of the Portuguese Competition Authority, 2016 to 2023.
- Vice-Chair, International Competition Network (Growth and Recovery), 2022 to 2023.
- Bureau member, OECD Competition Committee, elected by peer authorities.
- Senior Consultant, Compass Lexecon International practice.
- Former Managing Director, Portuguese Securities Market Commission (CMVM), investment management supervision.
- Earlier career at BNP Paribas, Santander Investment and UBS Bank in economic research, investment banking and asset management.
- MPA, Princeton University. Economics degree, Université Catholique de Louvain. Fulbright scholar at MIT.
Biography
Competition policy used to sit in a corner of corporate strategy: a compliance file, occasionally a deal-breaker, rarely a board-level lens. That has changed. Digital markets rules, merger thresholds and cartel enforcement now move pricing, investment and M&A decisions across whole sectors, and the EU is moving on capital markets integration in parallel.
Margarida Matos Rosa led Portugal’s competition regulator through that shift. As President of the Autoridade da Concorrência from 2016 to 2023, she oversaw enforcement decisions across banking, telecoms, energy, health, digital services and advertising, and built up the authority’s technical capability in AI and IT forensics for cartel detection. Her tenure is widely credited with raising the authority’s international standing.
That national role sat alongside two international ones. She was elected by peers to the Bureau of the OECD Competition Committee, and was appointed Vice-Chair of the International Competition Network for Growth and Recovery in 2022, a portfolio focused on the interface between antitrust and macro-economic policy after the pandemic. She now advises clients of Compass Lexecon’s International practice as a Senior Consultant.
Her earlier career gives her an unusually wide read of the regulatory landscape. Before competition policy, she ran investment management supervision at Portugal’s Securities Market Commission, and held roles at BNP Paribas, Santander Investment and UBS Bank covering economic research, investment banking and asset management. That financial markets grounding is what makes her credible on the Savings and Investments Union and on how capital allocation responds to a tighter EU regulatory perimeter.
Key speaking topics
- Competition policy and antitrust enforcement
- EU single market and strategic autonomy
- Digital markets regulation
- Productivity and AI in regulated markets
- Savings and Investments Union and capital markets integration
- Financial regulation and capital markets oversight
- Institution building in economic regulators
Ideal for
- Boards and executive committees of regulated firms in banking, telecoms, energy, digital and consumer markets
- General counsels, heads of strategy, heads of M&A and chief economists managing competition and digital regulation exposure
- CFOs and treasurers reading EU capital markets and Savings and Investments Union signals
- Policy and government affairs leaders shaping engagement with national and EU competition authorities
Audience outcomes
- A clearer read on how EU and national competition enforcement is moving, and where it is likely to bite next
- A working understanding of how digital markets rules interact with innovation, pricing and platform strategy
- A view from inside a regulator on how cases are prioritised, built and resolved
- A sharper sense of how the Savings and Investments Union and capital markets integration affect cost of capital and cross-border deals
- A practical framework for engaging credibly with competition authorities, the European Commission and the OECD
Talks
A look at the structural barriers, strategic autonomy questions and digital transformation pressures shaping the next phase of single market integration.
Key takeaways:
- Where regulatory fragmentation is still costing European firms scale
- How strategic autonomy reshapes industrial and competition policy
- What integration of the Savings and Investments Union changes for capital allocation
How digital economy regulation is evolving and what it means for innovation, market contestability and platform strategy.
Key takeaways:
- How EU and national authorities are framing digital market rules
- Where the line is being drawn between innovation incentives and contestability
- What boards should expect from the next wave of competition cases
A regulator’s view of how cartels are detected, prosecuted and deterred, with a focus on cross-border cooperation and forensic capability.
Key takeaways:
- How AI and IT forensics are changing cartel detection
- Why international cooperation between authorities is intensifying
- What sectors are now under closer enforcement attention
The regulatory question behind the AI productivity debate, and what competitive AI markets look like in practice.
Key takeaways:
- Why AI productivity gains depend on competitive market structure
- How regulators are approaching foundation models and downstream markets
- Where firms can act ahead of formal rules
What an integrated EU capital market would change for savers, firms and supervisors, and how realistic the political path is.
Key takeaways:
- The supervisory architecture behind the Savings and Investments Union
- How sustainable finance fits into the integration agenda
- What firms should prepare for in cross-border capital flows
Videos
Fees
| EUR | GBP | USD | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Home Country | Under €12000 | Under £10,000 | Under $15000 |
| Asia Pacific | €12000 to €40000 | £10,001 - £35,000 | $15000 - $50000 |
| Europe | €12000 to €40000 | £10,001 - £35,000 | $15000 - $50000 |
| Middle East & Africa | €12000 to €40000 | £10,001 - £35,000 | $15000 - $50000 |
| South America | €12000 to €40000 | £10,001 - £35,000 | $15000 - $50000 |
| United Kingdom | €12000 to €40000 | £10,001 - £35,000 | $15000 - $50000 |
| US East Coast | €12000 to €40000 | £10,001 - £35,000 | $15000 - $50000 |
| US West Coast | €12000 to €40000 | £10,001 - £35,000 | $15000 - $50000 |
| Virtual | Under €12000 | Under £10,000 | Under $15000 |