As has been happening since 2017, DINHEIRO once again publishes the Best Bank and Platform to Invest (MPBI) award, an assessment that shows which asset managers offer the best products and services for investors. The award is prepared by the Center for Studies in Finance of Fundação Getulio Vargas (FGVCef), with the coordination of Professor William Eid Júnior, one of the greatest specialists in finance in Brazil.
According to Eid, the MBPI is the only one that includes both quantitative and qualitative criteria. In the quantitative criterion, to be evaluated, funds must have 36 months of history and be demonstrably open to investors. Those that fit are analyzed by their risk/return ratio, measured by the Sharpe ratio, a methodology developed by the Nobel Prize in Economics William Sharpe.
The Sharpe ratio compares the fund’s performance to that of a risk-free investment. By this criterion, the most profitable funds and which, simultaneously, exposed investors to less risk, are the best evaluated, considering the 25% of the sample with the best scores.
The qualitative part is analyzed with the collaboration of the market research company Toluna, a partner of FGVcef, which carries out 1,000 interviews with investors to obtain an assessment of the quality of the services provided by financial institutions.
SANTANDER THE BEST
Like 2021, this year will be challenging for asset managers. The chief executive of Banco Santander’s management company, Carlos André, is well aware of this. However, the executive has good reasons to celebrate. Last year, his company was the winner of the MBPI. In addition to being better at managing money market funds, which offer low risk and liquidity, the bank was the leader in the Retail and High Income market segments. “This recognition is especially important because it underscores our work in managing and distributing products and investments,” he said.
Santander’s manager is great. It offers 550 funds, which have a combined equity of R$301 billion. “We cover the entire spectrum of the industry, both in products and in customer profiles, serving from the institutional investor to the retail customer,” he said. For 2022, André predicts a difficult scenario. The bank’s estimate for economic growth is 0.5%, slightly above the market average. However, Santander also expects inflation to be again above target and a lot of volatility. This is not necessarily a problem. “Volatility generates opportunities”, said André.
ITAÚ FIXED INCOME
According to the main executive of the Itaú asset management company, Carlos Augusto Salamonde, 2021 was marked by two moments. At the beginning of the year there was strong demand for riskier investments, which changed in the third quarter. “We received around BRL 100 million a day for risk investments in the first half, and between August and September, fixed income funds, both DI and credit, began to receive BRL 250 million a day,” he said. “Money didn’t come out of the most volatile funds, it just stopped coming in.”
The ability to receive this money well earned Itaú the award for best fixed income fund manager in this edition of the MBPI. In the market segments, it was the best in selective retail. Salamonde said he foresees a continuation of the flight from risk, with an emphasis on funds dedicated to credit. “They offer the possibility of an additional return over fixed income,” he said.
BB DTVM SHARES
BB DTVM was the winner of this edition of the MBPI in the Equity Funds category. What ensured the award to the asset management company of Banco do Brasil were two items, the amount of funds that received the maximum score among the 70 offered and the good scores in the administration fees and in the average investment (ticket).
According to the company’s chief equity, multimarket and offshore investment strategist, Marcelo Arnosti, the scenario for equity in 2022 is uncertain, but even so, the view is positive. The drop of nearly 12% in 2021 made the shares of many companies with good fundamentals cheaper. “Sectors linked to commodities are promising, as are companies linked to education,” said Arnosti. For him, the high world growth expected for this year guarantees a heated demand for commodities. In the domestic scenario, the expected normalization of activities will be beneficial for education companies. “They will benefit from the resumption of enrollment in the first semester,” he said.
MULTIMARKET CROP
Banco Safra’s asset manager was the best in the Multimarket funds category for the second consecutive year. The bank was also in second place in the Fixed Income and Equities categories and, in the competition of market segments, it was in second place among High Income investors in this edition of the MBPI. According to the main executive, Ricardo Negreiros, the result was the result of the joint work of several teams of analysts, both in the stock sector and in macroeconomics.
An economist with 18 years of experience in the market, Negreiros has been with Safra since 2016. In his opinion, 2022 will be a challenging year, both due to the electoral calendar and the uncertainties regarding the international economy. Faithful to Safra’s philosophy of accurately calculating risks, the management company preferred to focus on profitable and less risky investments to face turmoil. The strategy is easy to justify, the executive said. “It is simpler to raise the risk of the portfolio if we see that the scenario is better than expected than to migrate to more conservative investments if things get worse, as there will be a great demand for protection.”
XP BEST PLATFORM
XP was, for the second consecutive year, the winner of the Best Bank and Platform to Invest award, granted by the Center for Studies in Finance of Fundação Getulio Vargas (FGVcef). In addition to the quality in the management of its own products, what decided the case in favor of the company founded by Guilherme Benchimol and currently chaired by Thiago Maffra was the excellence in the services provided to the investor. In its assessment, FGVcef considers not only the funds’ good performance, measured by the relationship between risk and return, but also the quality of the services provided by the fund manager.
And quality, here, does not just mean the friendliness of the attendants, but also the advantages offered to customers when investing. Like the possibility of investing in excellent quality funds with little money, by reducing the average ticket. Or the decrease in management and performance fees, which in practice represent a reduction in the prices of funds in favor of the investor.
It is not by chance that the partner and main executive of XP’s asset management area, Gustavo Pires, noticed a reduction of around 25% in the average amount invested in the 729 funds distributed by the XP platform, offset by an increase in the number of investors . “In 2021, we were market leaders in the adoption of new investors,” said Pires. There were 930 thousand at the end of January, considering individuals and companies, with investments of R$ 174 billion.
In addition to the growth in the number of shareholders, the Executive said he had noticed a change in the profile of these investments. “People are diversifying their applications more, even if they haven’t changed their risk profile,” he said. For example, conservative investors who tried other alternatives during the low interest period. “They looked for fixed-income funds of various profiles instead of concentrating all their resources on CBD”, he said.
According to Pires, another noticeable movement was diversification, facilitated by the reduction of initial investments. The search for thematic funds grew, such as those dedicated to precious metals, renewable energy and games. And this must go on. “Diversification is the great opportunity that exists in the market today.”
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