Brazil’s pension funds are the largest in Latin America, accounting for about 40% of the region’s retirement fund assets last year, when they had R$115.12 billion ($63.98 billion) in funds under management. As Brazilian pension fund assets have grown over the last six years, fund managers have increased the share of fixed-income securities in their portfolios. Last year, fixed income securities – mainly government paper and short-term corporate debt – accounted for nearly 40% of the pension assets under management, about the same as equities. Since 1994, managers have cut other investments such as time deposits and real estate holdings to 13% from about 25% of their assets. Real interest rates fell last year to their lowest point since the launch of the Real Plan in 1994, sending equity prices sharply upward. The outlook this year is for equity investments to increase as interest rates drop further.
