Americanas is an isolated case and the market is calming down, says financial sector association

The situation at Americanas is an isolated case and the market is “quickly calming down”, said this Thursday (9) Ademir Correa Junior, president of the Distribution Forum of Anbima (Brazilian Association of Financial and Capital Market Entities).

The entity presented the balance of investments made by Brazilians in 2022. Anbima figures show that retail investors invested BRL 6 billion in traditional debentures in 2022, an increase of 85.6% compared to the previous year.

Debentures are securities usually issued by large companies, which in practice represent a loan made by investors. Most of the time, companies offer interest linked to the CDI, which closely follows the basic interest rate, plus an additional premium, which varies according to the size and financial situation of the company.

The estimate made by market agents is that Americanas’ debt with debentures alone will be around R$ 5 billion.

“It is not possible to look at the Americanas case as something that is part of the investment ecosystem, it is isolated. Of course, it creates a lot of rumors among investors. But what I see is that the market is quickly calming down”, says Correa.

Debentures normally reach small investors indirectly, via investment funds that buy the bonds when they are issued by companies. A problem like that of Americanas impacts the value of these funds’ quotas, with a possible loss of profitability.

security option

In general, Anbima’s balance sheet shows that Brazilian investors, large and small, increased their investments in the capital market in 2022, with a volume of more than R$ 5 billion and growth of 11.7% compared to 2021 values.

What has changed is the profile of the applications. While fixed-income options gained ground, equities dropped their share of the total for the second consecutive year, in what Correa calls an “option for safety.”

Fixed income assets accounted for 60.3% of the funds invested in Brazil last year, compared to 56.8% in 2021. Variable income, in turn, fell from 19.5% to 17.1%. In 2020, this share was 20%.

According to the director of Anbima, the rise in interest rates favored investors’ option for fixed income. Investments in funds in this category grew by almost 24% among private investors, who have more than R$3 million in investments. In retail, growth was 10%.

“In retail, the increase in the volume invested in fixed income funds was the largest since 2017, and in private, the largest since 2016”, reveals Correa.

Another highlight of last year was tax-free investment options. The biggest growth was with the LIG (Guaranteed Real Estate Bill), which are securities issued by banks based on real estate assets. In 2022, the volume invested in this instrument grew by 87.7%.

In the same segment, the CRI (Certificate of Real Estate Receivables) grew 74.2% in 2022.

Among the more traditional investments, on which Income Tax is levied, the CDB grew by 25.5% in 2022, while the investment in government bonds increased by 24.1%.

The values ​​invested in stocks fell, and more intensely among the private public, with a decrease of 5.3%, while in retail, the fall was of 1.7%. In total, equity investments last year fell by 4.2%. This in a year of high of 4.69% of the Ibovespa.

The equity of the investment industry in Brazil exceeded BRL 5 trillion in 2022, BRL 3.1 trillion in retail and BRL 1.9 trillion in the private segment.