A review of the "reputational risk" of HSBC - again in the news due to a potential tax-evasion scandal over its handling of high-net-worth accounts - may be on the agenda of the regulatory agency that determines eligibility to receive AFP investments.
CCR Monthly Approval Report – January 2015
A total of 14 products were added in January to the list of approved instruments to receive investments from Chilean Pension Managers (AFPs). PowerShares led with 11 equity ETFs domiciled in the USA.
Mexican Finance Ministry goes all in on open architecture for mutual funds
The Finance Ministry unveiled an open-architecture scheme that would prevent mutual fund managers from working exclusively with only one mutual fund distribution company or entity (usually the bank that owns them), and ensure that any distributor willing to offer a manager's fund should be allowed to do so.
Delay in kickoff of independent-worker pension scheme impacts AFP Planvital and BTG
AFP Planvital is about to become a direct victim of the delay, since it would have benefited from independent workers' new compulsory flows. The situation complicates any potential plan by the AFP's owner - BTG Pactual - to sell the AFP to a third party.
State and municipal pensions barred from investing in local funds with international exposure
Local fund managers had been distributing their internationally-focused products to these Brazilian institutional investors through September 2014. However, a technical note (07/2014) issued by the MPS clarified that the RPPSs are not permitted to invest in international markets, even if the vehicle is local.
CCR Monthly Approval Report – December 2014
While Dimensional and Lazard led with four mutual funds registered in the month, BlackRock and Invesco each won approval for three funds of their own.
Local expert: The real impact on cross-border managers of eased international-investment rules in Brazil
A long-awaited, momentous change came about last week in Brazil, when its securities regulator made it much easier for the affluent to invest internationally via locally-domiciled products. Seeking reaction to the news, Fund Pro Latin America spoke with the longtime manager of a multinational fund firm - a Brazilian native sensitive to the needs and demands of Brazilian investors as well as the competitive environment for global firms. In this wide-ranging, 1,200-word article - what we would consider required reading for cross-border managers - the executive (whose name is revealed in the article) discusses what's really changed with the new regulations, the importance of the changes for cross-border managers, the likelihood of international diversification amongst the affluent, other market sectors that will soon be gaining easier access to international markets, the size of the "new" addressable market in light of these changes, the potential for - and wisdom of - new efforts by players from abroad setting up shop in Brazil, the competitive environment for funds vs. new ETF and depositary-receipt offerings that already provide some access to international markets, and what he considers to be the minimum requirements for success for cross-border firms considering Brazil.
Brazilian fund regulator eases international investment rules, setting stage for wave of cross-border offerings
The two instructions are seen by the global asset management community as game-changers in their approach to Brazil, since important segment of the onshore market will become addressable - at least after July 1, 2015, when the rules take effect.
CVM has begun drafting new qualified-investor rules
The Brazilian securities regulator, the Comissão de Valores Mobiliários responded to a request made by the Brazilian Association of Financial and Capital Markets (ANBIMA) and decided that revised regulations governing "suitability" and new definitions concerning qualified investors should enter into force simultaneously.
Canadian and MILA-listed securities can be bought locally by Chilean investors
SVS approved a resolution that exempts all listed investment securities registered with regulators in Colombia, Mexico, Peru and Canada as well from enrollment in the Registro de Valores Extranjeros (foreign securities register). Under the new rules, registered securities in any of these countries - including ETFs - will be able to be traded publicly by Chilean investors almost automatically.