Reform boosts private pension fund industry

Brazil's private pension funds registered a 62% rise in year-to-September revenues, local daily Folha de S.Paulo reported Monday. In the first nine months of the year, these funds received R$ 9.84 billion ($1 = R$ 2.87) in deposits. This compares with R$ 9.80 billion worth of deposits for the whole of 2002. Economists attributed increased demand for private pension funds to the government's pension reform being voted in Congress and to marketing efforts by financial institutions to seize the moment and market their products. The equity of private pension funds currently represents 4.08% of Brazil's investment fund industry. At the start of 2002, by contrast, this share was 1.48%. by Sergio Caldas