Treasury studies launching bond for families to pay for their children’s college

The National Treasury is considering launching a fixed-income bond aimed at families who plan to invest to cover the costs of their children during university life. The movement represents another step in the agency’s strategy of creating options for specific investor interests.

This Monday (30), the agency launched RendA+, a title that marks the first initiative of its kind and which is aimed at those who want to invest to receive resources during retirement. The Secretary of the Treasury, Rogério Ceron, said in São Paulo that the characteristics of the newly launched product are similar to the proposal for education still under study.

The RandA+ will be pegged to inflation plus a real interest rate, ensuring the maintenance of the purchasing power of the amounts invested over the years. The minimum amount to start investing in the title is approximately R$ 30.

Initially, eight conversion date options will be offered to the public: 2030, 2035, 2040, 2045, 2050, 2055, 2060 and 2065. The terms offer the possibility of investing over up to 40 years, according to the National Treasury.

In the case of bonds aimed at education, the resources may be contributed by the interested party over the years and the redemption, with due return on the investment, may occur during a specified period – such as four or five years. The Treasury is still in the initial phase of studying the proposal and the details have not yet been closed.

In recent days, Ceron also stated that the Treasury is preparing for external issues of public bonds with the creation of papers linked to environmental commitments.

“If it happens this year, it has an important role in signaling that the Brazilian environmental commitment is becoming concrete”, he said.

The secretary stated that the bonds will need to have counterparts, linked to green projects, sustainable agriculture or energy transition.

The Treasury announced in early 2021 that it was preparing to launch bonds with the ESG seal (environment, social and governance), but did not commit to deadlines. At the time, the environmental policy of then-president Jair Bolsonaro was heavily criticized in the world.

In 2022, the Brazilian government did not issue any foreign bonds. The last placement took place in June 2021. That year, the volume issued was US$ 2.3 billion, after launches of US$ 6 billion in 2020.