Maria Cure. Photo: Funds Society. Maria Cure Joins the Ranks of HSBC in Miami as an Investment Counselor
Maria Cure has left her position at Citibank to join the Investment Strategy team at HSBC in Miami as an Investment Counselor. As confirmed to Funds Society by sources close to the appointment, Cure will report to Esteban Zorrilla, team leader for the Miami office.
With over 10 years’ experience, Cure joins the bank after four years at Citi, where she was Investment Counselor for Citigold segment private clients. Prior to that she spent seven years as a fund analyst, portfolio manager and financial analyst at Guggenheim Partners.
She holds a Degree in Business Administration from Florida International University, and an MBA from the same university.
Foto: SMWalton, Flickr, Creative Commons. Espírito Santo firma un acuerdo con FIG Partners para la venta del banco en Miami
Espírito Santo Bank has announced the signing of a letter of agreement with FIG Partners, an investment banking firm, to assist with the sale of the bank in Miami. “I’ve known Tom Rudkin, principle of FIG Partners, for many years,” says G. Frederick Reinhardt, Chairman & CEO Espírito Santo Bank. “I am confident that he and his team have the bank and, most importantly its clients, best interest at heart and that the process with be swift and effective,” continues Reinhardt.
Espírito Santo Bank Miami no longer has any ties to its former parent, which was taken over by the Bank of Portugal. All future events, whether financial or governmental, involving the institution in Portugal will have no further impact upon ESB Miami and its operations.
“Simply put, we have severed all ties to our former parent, and Espírito Santo Bank Miami is now completely independent, with its own board. Further, all Espirito Santo family members voluntarily stepped down from our board on August 6, 2014,” says Reinhardt. “Our clients will no longer experience an impact upon ESB Miami from BES, and will in fact see continued growth in the coming months as we seek a new owner,” continues Reinhardt.
Since 2012, FIG Partners has completed over 30 Merger & Acquisition (“M&A”) transactions and is ranked third in the country. In addition, year-to-date 2014, FIG Partners is ranked 4thin the country in the number of M&A transactions via its offices in Chicago, Los Angeles, San Francisco and its headquarters in Atlanta.
“Espírito Santo Bank presents an excellent opportunity. The bank has a strong franchise value and is profitable, and I look forward to working with Fred Reinhardt and his executives during a successful search and identification of highly qualified buyers, in a reasonable time frame,” says Thomas G. Rudkin, principle, FIG Partners.
Mr. Rudkin has more than 30 years of experience in the community banking arena in Florida, the northeast, and the Midwest of the United States. He is responsible for originating and closing more than $400 million in transaction value in the state of Florida.
Florida Chartered since 1973, Espírito Santo Bank provides wealth management and personal/corporate banking services, residential/commercial real estate lending and trade finance services to domestic and international individuals, institutions, and corporate clients. A team of multi-lingual and multi-cultural Financial Advisors and Product Specialists – experienced in the United States and international markets – customize strategies for clients.
Equipo de Desarrollo de Negocio US Offshore de Aberdeen AM en sentido de las agujas del reloj: Menno de Vreeze, Andrea Ajila, Damian Zamudio y Maria Cordova. Aberdeen AM nombra a Menno de Vreeze director de Desarrollo de Negocio Offshore en las Américas
Aberdeen Asset Management announces thatMenno de Vreeze has been appointed Head of Business Development-Offshore in the Americas, replacing Silvana Barrenechea, who has moved to Aberdeen’s London office where she will be responsible for global key accounts. Menno will oversee the offshore business development teams in Aberdeen’s New York City and Miami offices. Menno joined the firm in April 2010 as Head of Financial Institutions Benelux (Belgium, Luxembourg and the Netherlands) in Luxembourg.
Aberdeen’s footprint in the Americas offshore channel has steadily grown over recent years. Investors have recognized the firm’s investment expertise in equity, multi-asset and fixed income products for both institutions and private individuals, with $541 billion in assets under management globally as of April 30, 2014. “We believe that Aberdeen’s wide range of products, combined with our disciplined approach to investing and focus on client service, offers a sturdy platform on which to build”, states the company.
Along with his team members, Damian Zamudio, Maria Cordova and Andrea Ajila, Menno will further build on strengthening the relationships Aberdeen has already made with various financial institutions.
Londres. Foto: Carlescs79, Flickr, Creative Commons. Santander AM incorpora a sus filas a Divya Manek como gestora de Renta Fija Europea
Santander Asset Management UK has appointed Divya Manek as a new fund manager in its Global European Fixed Income team, focusing on European Bond Strategies. Based in London, she will report to Adam Cordery, global head of European Fixed Income, according to Investment Europe.
Manek will work primarily on Santander Asset Management’s three euro credit mutual funds (Euro Corporate Short Term, Euro Corporate and Renta Fija Privada).
Adam Cordery, global head of European Fixed Income, said: “I am delighted Divya has decided to join the firm. She is a strong addition to the recently created European Fixed Income team and I look forward to working with her.”
Manek spent the last seven years at Schroders, working on its flagship EUR/GBP mutual funds and managing segregated mandates. She obtained a first-class engineering degree from the University of Mumbai in 2006, graduated top of her class at the Cass Business School in 2007 and became a CFA Charterholder in 2010.
Espirito Santo Plaza. Exan Capital, as Exclusive Advisor, Manages the Sale of the Espirito Santo Building in Miami
The Espírito Santo family, majority owners of the Portuguese bank that bears its name, and which has recently been split in two and partially rescued, is in a difficult financial situation due to the bank’s collapse.
Under these circumstances, the family put the office towerlocated in the Brickell area, and which serves as headquarters for the bank’s activities in Miami, up for sale months ago. As reported to Funds Society by sources close to the Espírito Santo Group, the sale of the building it owns at 1395 Brickell Avenue is being managed since last May by the Miami based company Exan Capital, as exclusive advisor.
Rio Forte Investments, a company controlled by the Espírito Santo family, in turn controls Estoril Inc, the entity which owns the Espirito Santo Plaza. The Portuguese bank, Espirito Santo, gave Estoril a mortgage on the property, which has already been settled. This building houses the Espirito Santo bank’s Miami headquarters.
At an advanced selling stage
Major private and institutional U.S and foreign investors groups have been invited to the sale process. Apparently the process is in the final stage of negotiations with an investor group for an amount exceeding US$110mn.
The building, built in 2004 with an area of 659,753 square feet, has several components: offices, retail, parking, hotel, and condominiums. The Espirito Santo Group owns offices, retail space, and parking. The Espirito Santo bank’s Miami headquarters is located in this building.
Sale of the Tivoli Hotel chain
The Portuguese group also owns the Tivoli Hotel chain which is also up for sale and in a similar situation. The selling price of the hotel chain is around US$400mn.
The sale of these two assets can inject a large amount of liquidity to the group within a very short period of time. This is necessary considering the group’s financial situation after the collapse of the Portuguese bank.
KKR has announced that Jaka Prasetya, former Managing Partner and Founder of Leafgreen Capital Partners, is joining the firm as Managing Director to lead KKR’s Indonesia efforts as well as credit and special situations initiatives in Southeast Asia. Also joining KKR in the role of Director are Rahul Bhargava and Allan So, both formerly managing directors and partners at Leafgreen. Messrs. Prasetya, Bhargava and So will be based in Singapore. The appointments are effective August 26, 2014.
In his role, Mr. Prasetya will work with KKR’s private equity, credit and special situations teams to enhance the firm’s strategy in Indonesia. In addition, supported by Messrs. Bhargava and So, Mr. Prasetya will also lead KKR’s credit business in Southeast Asia. They bring extensive investment experience to the region through their work at Leafgreen, a provider of mezzanine and structured growth funding in Southeast Asia with a focus on Indonesian opportunities.
“Indonesia continues to be a dynamic market for investment with great growth potential and positive demographics driving opportunities. With our first deal in the market in 2013, we look forward to exploring new opportunities to provide both equity and credit solutions to companies to suit their long-term needs,” said Ming Lu, Member & Co-Head of Asia Private Equity at KKR. “The addition of Jaka, Rahul and Allan – who have a deep understanding of Indonesia’s local culture and business environment – greatly enhances our ability to partner with Indonesian companies. We welcome them and the experience that they bring to the team.”
Mr. Prasetya launched Leafgreen in 2011 to finance mid-cap companies in Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore. Prior to his time at Leafgreen, Mr. Prasetya was the Managing Director and Head of Principal Investments Asia at Raiffeisen Bank International. He previously held senior management positions at United Fiber System and Deutsche Bank. He holds an MBA from MIT Sloan School of Management and earned his Bachelor of Engineering from the Institut Teknologi Bandung in Indonesia.
Mr. Bhargava joined Leafgreen in 2013 after 12 years at Henderson Global Investors, where he was a founding member of the Asian private equity business. Mr. Bhargava is a CFA charterholder, has an MBA from the Australian Graduate School of Management and earned his Bachelor of Science degree in Economics, with honors, from the University of Calcutta.
Before joining Leafgreen in 2011, Mr. So held structured-credit responsibilities at Société Générale, Standard Chartered, Calyon, J.P. Morgan and Centre Solutions in Hong Kong, and Salomon Smith Barney in New York. Mr. So holds a Bachelor of Science from Columbia University.
“With urbanization, rising wages and a young and growing working class, we see excellent opportunities in Indonesia with good companies looking for varied financial solutions,” said Mr. Prasetya. “KKR’s holistic approach to providing businesses with capital solutions, from debt to straight equity, is a unique prospect in this market – Rahul, Allan and I look forward to expanding upon the firm’s investments there.”
The term “frontier markets” is typically used when describing a subgroup of emerging market countries. These countries represent a differentiated risk and return opportunity from broad emerging markets and typically have a number of common characteristics (such as a less mature political, macro economic and financial frameworks). However, according to Global Evolution, what frontier markets lack in economic size and maturity, they make up for in potential. “With a high projected real GDP growth over the next 5-10 years, global frontier markets are expected to have a firm grip on the world’s growth baton for many years to come”.
The broader emerging markets fixed income universe has gone through a major transition since the early 1990s. Back then the tradable markets were dominated by Latin American dollar denominated debt instruments and with JPMorgan’s EM fixed income benchmark, EMBI comprising less than 15 countries – typically rated below investment grade. Today EMBI Global Diversified comprises 62 countries of which many are rated investment grade.
As an experienced emerging markets fixed income manager with a history dating back to the mid 1990-ties, Global Evolution sees many similarities between the features displayed by today’s frontier markets and the features that characterized emerging markets of the past. Just as early stage emerging markets investors were getting well paid for taking risk in the 90’s and early 2000’s, “today’s risk adjusted return potential in frontier markets fixed income and FX looks similarly attractive”, explains Global Evolution in a recent report. “In our diversified Frontier Markets (Fixed Income) strategy comprising more than 35 countries the idiosyncratic event risk is manageable since the single country exposure is capped at 5% of the portfolio”.
Global Evolution has currently identified 108 countries in the frontier markets universe of which 65 are investable right now.
Benchmark heavy local fixed income markets have become crowded
Over the past few years the divergence of advanced world and developing world macro fundamentals and not least debt and fiscal metrics have made emerging markets assets even more compelling from a risk diversification perspective. However, as a result, core local fixed income and FX markets represented in traditional emerging market benchmarks have become crowded with foreign holdings now around 30% on average. In this respect, Global Evolution points out that local frontier markets are significantly better positioned since a low foreign holdings ratio (typically below 15%) makes these markets less vulnerable to changes in global risk assessment and herd behavior.
Liquidity in Frontier Markets
Some investors have the perception is that frontier markets are illiquid and dramatically more volatile than traditional emerging markets debt and – for those reasons – frontier markets can only be seen as a buy-and-hold asset class. On the contrary, the local investor base in these markets is an important liquidity provider for frontier fixed income and FX-markets.
Global Evolution has been investing in frontier markets for more than 10 years which gives a solid background and expertise in identifying investment opportunities with attractive risk-return characteristics. In Global Evolution’s frontier strategy the portfolio investments are typically a combination of dollar denominated and local currency denominated sovereign debt and currency instruments. Dollar denominated debt is currency hedged whereas local currency debt is unhedged.
Frontier markets fixed income strategy with a target return of 10-12%
Over the past 10-15 years traditional emerging markets debt represented by countries such as Mexico, Brazil, Russia and Turkey has seen a significant spread compression that has left credit premiums and return potentials less appealing than they used to be. “It goes without saying that the risk of US treasury yields rising from present lows represents a strong potential headwind”, states the asset manager. With this in mind Global Evolution in December 2010 launched its first dedicated frontier markets fixed income fund in a European Ucits IV format with a targeted annual return of 10-12%. So far the firm is pleased to see that the performance of the strategy has proven robust.
Global Evolution, an asset management firm specialized in emerging and frontier markets debt, is represented by Capital Stragtegies in the Americas Region.
You may access the full report through the attached pdf file.
Foto: Lies Thru a Lens. La directora de Negocio Institucional de AXA IM en Reino Unido ficha por MFS Investment Management
AXA Investment Managers Head of UK Institutional Madeline Forrester has left the firm and it set to join MFS Investment Management in a similar capacity, based in London, according to several media sources in the UK.
Forrester’s career includes extensive insurance asset management experience, starting at Threadneedle Asset Management where she spent 16 years prior to joining AXA IM in 2011. She was a leader in Threadneedle’s UK expansion as well as supporting the firm’s growth across EMEA and Australia.
Forrester also held fund manager and fixed income sales roles at JP Morgan and UBS, respectively.
Photo: Diego Delso. Advanced Capital Completes Purchase of Broker-dealer Lake Forest Securities
Advanced Capital Securities, a Latin American investment bank, has completed the purchase of Lake Forest Securities LLC, a Chicago-based broker-dealer, which specializes in high-grade corporate fixed income securities and municipal bonds. The sale, which was initially announced in April, received final approval on August 20th from FINRA, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority. Lake Forest Securities will now operate under the name of AdCap Securities.
With the acquisition of Lake Forest, Miami-based Advanced Capital expands its U.S. client base and broadens its product offerings, as well as its research capabilities, for its international clients, primarily in Latin America. Advanced Capital has brokerage, capital markets and asset management operations in Argentina, Uruguay and Peru.
“The acquisition of Lake Forest, which operates in six States, not only expands our footprint in the United States,” said Daniel Canel, CEO of Advanced Capital Group, “but also deepens our expertise in the U.S. corporate and government bond markets, as well as our overall market intelligence. It’s another key piece in our regional capital markets strategy.” In February, Advanced Capital acquired Latmark Asset Management LLC, a boutique investment advisor based in Miami.
Advanced Capital is a regional investment bank that operates in the capital markets of both Latin America and the U.S. “The fact that Advanced Capital is headquartered in the United States, with execution capabilities in its equity and fixed income markets, provides our clients in Latin America a stamp of approval for our regulatory infrastructure and corporate governance,” said Gustavo Dominguez, CEO of AdCap Securities.
Lake Forest Securities, founded in 1998, operates in the U.S. Mid-West, specifically in Illinois, Ohio, Wisconsin and Michigan, as well as the southern States of Texas and Florida. The broker-dealer is primarily focused in high-grade corporate fixed income and municipal bonds, but also engages in equities trading, mutual funds and mortgages trading.
Regional Footprint
Lake Forest is a strategic addition to Advanced Capital’s international platform, which it has been building through acquisitions across the Americas. Following the acquisition of Latmark in February, the firm purchased Andes Securities SAB and Andes Securities SAFI, a leading brokerage firm and investment fund manager in Peru.
With established brokerage, asset management and investment banking talent and capabilities across Latin America and in the U.S., Advanced Capital has a regional footprint that allows it to offer investment opportunities to clients, as well as capital raising services for emerging companies in Latin America. “Our geographic diversification gives us unparalleled insight and access,” says CEO Canel. “The cross-fertilization and cross-border synergies that this generates is unmatched in our industry.”
Photo: Pudelek (Marcin Szala). What Happened to Income Distribution and Poverty in Latin America?
Income distribution is a subject of interest to all. It recently gained renewed attention with the research that Thomas Piketty published in the book Capital in the Twenty-First Century. Although data limitations restricted Piketty’s work to a group of developed countries, the debate on the issue gained prominence worldwide, including in Latin America.
What happened to income distribution in Latin America? In order to answer this question, Itaú will use -in a new report by Gino Olivares and Ilan Goldfajn- the information available on the Socio-Economic Database for Latin America and the Caribbean (SEDLAC), a joint initiative of the Centro de Estudios Distributivos Laborales y Sociales (CEDLAS), Universidad Nacional de la Plata (Argentina) and the World Bank, compiling household surveys from 24 countries in the region. Currently, SEDLAC provides information for the period 1992-2012, as well as information for prior years for some countries. Their sample includes eight countries: Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Mexico, Paraguay, Peru and Uruguay, representing 80% of the region’s population and 86% of GDP.
Measures of income distribution
There are several ways to measure income distribution, all of them imperfect. To evaluate the evolution of inequality in Latin America, Itaú decided to use two indicators: the income share of the top 10% income-earners of the population and the Gini coefficient. The first one reflects the degree of income concentration held by the most affluent. The second one is the most widely used inequality metric. Below, they present the results obtained with the first of the abovementioned indicators.
Results using the income share of the top 10% income-earners of the population
Probably, the most common and intuitive way to assess inequality is to look at the share of income held by the most favored. In this case, Itaú evaluates the evolution of the income share held by the top 10% income-earners of the population. Chart 1 shows this income distribution indicator at two points in time: 2002 and 2012. The chart clearly shows that, for this period, there was general improvement in income distribution. The Latin American average, weighted by population, declined from 43.0% in 2002 to 29.8% in 2012. However, we also noticed that the decline in inequality was uneven: the initial conditions were differentamong countries, and the magnitude of the fall in inequality in each country was heterogeneous. Peru, Argentina and Uruguay posted the largest falls in our indicator of inequality, while Mexico posted the lowest drop.
This heterogeneity makes it interesting to analyze each case separately. Chart 2 shows the evolution of the income share of the top 10% income-earners in the population for the four countries (Argentina, Brazil, Chile and Mexico) for which we have information covering a longer horizon (1987-2012).
The distribution of income in Brazil became more concentrated between 1987 and 1992 and it has become increasingly less concentrated since then. The recovery is slow at first, but picks up in later years. Chile shows stability in the income distribution indicator between 1987and 2002, improvement between 2002 and 2007 and stability thereafter. The income distribution in Mexico became less concentrated between 1987 and 1992, remained stable between 1992 and 1997 and became more concentrated between 1997 and 2007, and stabilized again between 2007 and 2012. Finally, we see a very peculiar behavior of income distribution in Argentina. Starting from a less concentrated level, the income distribution indicator retreated (worsened) between 1992 and 2002 (particularly between 1997 and 2002), but started improving from then on, reaching a less concentrated income distribution in 2012 than that observed at the beginning of the period under review. Incidentally, this is a common feature for the four countries: in 2012, they all posted the best number in the period under review.
Chart 3 shows the evolution of the income share held by the top 10% income-earners in Colombia,Peru,Paraguay and Uruguay for the period 1997-2012. In Paraguay, inequality rose between 1997 and 2002. The trend reversed between 2002 and 2007, with inequality returning to the 1997 level and remaining stable since then. In Peru, income concentration increased slightly between 1997 and 2002, but from then on has shown significant and continued decline. In Colombia, the information is only available since 2002 and shows high inequality that decreases over time, but not enough to save the country from posting theworst performance.
Finally, Uruguay – the least unequal country in our sample – shows a trajectory of rising inequality between 1997 and 2007 followed by a sharp drop in the later period (2007-2012), reaching a lower level in 2012 than posted in 1997. Out of the four countries, three (Colombia, Peru and Uruguay) posted the lowest level of inequality for the analyzed period in 2012.
Summarizing our results, the eight countries in our sample posted falls in inequality. The trend becomes widespread only since the early years of the twenty-first century. Despite their improvement in income distribution, the four countries (Colombia, Brazil, Paraguay and Chile) that historically posted the worst indicators maintained that condition. At the other extreme, historically less unequal countries (Argentina and Uruguay) posted worsening inequality, but managed to reverse this situation, ending the period with inequality levels below those initially observed. Between these two groups, it is also worth highlighting the significant reduction in inequality in Peru. Finally, during the Global Financial Crisis (2007-2012) there was no worsening in inequality for our sample: inequality actually fell in six countries (Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Peru and Uruguay) and remained stable in the other two (Mexico and Paraguay).
Another dimension: poverty
The analysis has shown so far the fall in the income held by the most favored in recent years and, consequently, improvement in income distribution. In order to complement the study this section focuses on the poor. Defining poverty is not a trivial matter. In this article Itaú applies SEDLAC’s definition, of inability to reach a certain minimum level of income, known as the poverty line. They used a poverty line defined at US$ 2.5 per day in purchasing-power parity (PPP), which, according to SEDLAC, coincides with the median of the official extreme poverty lines fixed by Latin American governments.
Chart 4 shows the percentage of the population below the poverty line for each country in the sample in 2002 and 2012. Again, they notice two characteristics that were also present in the results using the income share of the top 10% income-earners of the population: the fall in poverty is widespread, but heterogeneous. Argentina, Peru, Paraguay, Brazil and Colombia (in that order) posted the largest decline (in percentage points). The other three countries (Mexico, Chile and Uruguay) posted lower drops, but in the case of the latter two, from already very low levels.
As was the case in the study of the income share held by the top 10% income-earners, the heterogeneity observed in poverty makes it relevant to analyze the evolution of the indicator for each country. Chart 5 shows the evolution of the poverty indicator for the four countries (Argentina, Brazil, Chile and Mexico) for which there is information covering a longer horizon (1987-2012).
Chile is the country that posted the highest percentage (39.4%) of the population below the poverty line in 1987, but five years later, in 1992, this number had already been reduced to less than half of that. One possible explanation for this decline is the country’s strong economic growth. During this period, the country grew at an average annual rate of 8.3%. In later years, poverty continued to decline, reaching 2.9% by the end of the reviewed period.
Brazil showed an increase in the percentage of people in poverty between 1987 and 1992, but a considerable decrease in the following five years. Between 1997 and 2002, the decline in the percentage of people in poverty continued, but at a slower pace. The fall in poverty accelerated again in the following years.
Mexico shows the opposite behavior to Brazil between 1987 and 1997, falling between 1987 and 1992 and rising significantly between 1992 and 1997. The deterioration observed between 1992 and 1997 is likely related to the 1995 crisis, although it was completely reversed in the next five years. The decline continued in the following years, though at a slower pace. Between 2007 and 2012 the percentage of people in poverty remained fairly stable.
The evolution of the percentage of people in poverty in Argentina followed the same pattern observed in the first indicator of inequality: having started at a very low level (2.9%), it rose significantly, reaching its peak (29.2%) in 2002, certainly due to the economic crisis that the country experienced during those years. In the following years, the percentage declined sharply, reaching a low value (4.7%) in 2012; however, this is still higher than the percentage at the beginning.
Chart 6 shows the evolution of the percentage of people in poverty in Colombia, Peru, Paraguay and Uruguay for the period 1997- 2012.
Peru presents a continuously decreasing percentage of people in poverty, but it is possible to identify two different periods. Between 1997 and 2002, the fall is relatively modest, but from 2002 onwards the pace of decline accelerates. Colombia, whose information is only available from 2002, posted the same percentage of people in poverty as Peru for this year. The country also managed toreduce this percentage in subsequent years, but to a lesser magnitude than Peru. Paraguay experienced an increase in its percentage of people in poverty between 1997 and 2002, but since then the percentage has dropped significantly, reaching a lower value (14.4%) that that posted at the beginning of the period. Finally, poverty statistics confirmed Uruguay as the country with the lowest level of poverty in our sample throughout the period, despite the increase in the percentage of people in poverty posted between 1997 and 2002, which was more than offset by the subsequent decline.
The analysis of poverty in the sample countries brought results similar to those observed in the analysis of our inequality indicator: poverty decline is widespread and becomes more prominent in the early years of the twenty-first century. The five countries that historicallyposted the highest poverty percentages (Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Paraguay and Peru) were able to significantly reduce these percentages, with Chile as the absolute highlight. Mexico has also reduced its poverty, although to a lesser extent than the others. Argentina, during the second half of the reviewed period, managed to reverse the serious deterioration of the first half. Uruguay stood out, posting the best performance, and was confirmed as the one with lower poverty in the sample. Finally, it is important to note that all countries maintained the downward trend in poverty during the Global Financial Crisis (2007-2012).
Conclusions
The results show that in the last two decades there was widespread, although heterogeneous, improvement in income inequality and poverty in Latin America. There are several reasons for these movements. Itaú highlights reforms, macroeconomic stability, a favorable international scenario (despite the crisis after 2007), several years of strong GDP growth, a significant reduction in unemployment and income-transfer policies.
In a world that looks increasingly unequal, Latin America was able to move in the opposite direction in the last decades. The challenge is to maintain this trend.
This report is authored by Gino Olivares and Ilan Goldfajn, Itaú BBA
