Amid a global economic slowdown and waning growth prospects for Latin America, presidential politics in four countries -Argentina, Brazil, Chile, and Peru- have also greatly impacted the prospects of recovery, according to the latest research from global analytics firm Cerulli Associates.
These findings and more are from “Latin American Distribution Dynamics 2016: Keys to Gaining a Foothold in Increasingly Globalized Market”, a report developed in partnership between Cerulli and Latin Asset Management.
“In broad terms, the movements signal a return to free-market and investor-friendly policies, reversing a troubling trend toward populism, nationalism, and expansion of the welfare state,” explains Thomas V. Ciampi, founder and director of Latin Asset Management. “In fact, as of mid-2016, only Venezuela and minor players Ecuador and Bolivia were still proudly carrying the leftist torch, while the rest of Latin America had seemed to grow restless with that approach.”
“The asset management industries in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, and Peru-including the AFP private-pension businesses in Chile and Peru, the local mutual fund industries of the four countries, and for offshore asset gathering through the wealth management channel-all face consequences from the shifts in leadership and the attitudes of the public,” Ciampi adds.
“In the case of Argentina especially, the recent election of pro-market president Mauricio Macri boded well for a normalization of the local capital markets, but created uncertainty for cross-border firms that have raised tremendous amounts of assets via the offshore wealth channel,” Ciampi said, noting that the government was eager to launch an amnesty plan aimed a repatriating a portion of the USD 500 billion of Argentine-investor assets held abroad.