Credicorp Capital SAF: “In 2024 we see that there will be a greater appetite to diversify investments”

The mutual fund industry in Peru during 2023 registered a growth of 16% in assets and 1.5% in participants, thus adding more than 347 thousand investors in the year. “This change in trend and also double-digit growth makes us close the year in a positive way”said Óscar Zapata, general manager of Credicorp Capital SAF.

He also stressed that last year there was a greater appetite among investors to leave their assets in Peruvian mutual funds. This after capital migrated abroad due to the uncertainty during 2022.

“There have been certain clients and participants who have stopped transferring their capital to investment options outside the country. “This has led to a change in the trend regarding the acquisition of assets.”he asserted.

Faced with this scenario, 2024 is positioned as a year in which the industry prepares to offer investment alternatives in accordance with the demand that exists today among investors: with a greater appetite for investing, but still with some caution.

“2023 has been a year where they said ‘none of these extreme risks were consolidated, therefore I am going to return my money to Peru or I will stop withdrawing my money.’ “This 2024, while it is true that it is a year of economic caution, it is a year where we see that clients are going to be a little more willing to seek more diversification in their investment portfolios.”he asserted.

Factors

The main tailwinds for a 2024 with good returns in mutual funds are inflation and its increasingly closer convergence to the target range of between 1% and 3%. As noted, 2023 closed with inflation of 3.2%. “It is expected that this level of inflation will still reduce a little more during 2024. It is a very important point: with inflation controlled, a change in monetary policy is expected,” he said.

At an external level, another of the factors in favor – the one that would have the greatest impact – focuses on the thesis of the ‘soft landing’ of the US economy. “Although there is no consensus in the market, it is one of the scenarios with the most possibilities. Therefore, this means that the FED will probably begin to have a change in policy in 2024 and start reducing the interest rate. This is extremely important because mutual funds are going to benefit from this context.”he expressed.

Results as of 2023

The manager commented that Credicorp Capital SAF managed to increase its market share in 2023: it went from 30.6% in 2022 to 32% in the last year. In managed assets, the growth was 21.7%, 5 points more than the market.

“We are the largest fund manager in the market with more than S/10.5 billion in managed funds. In unitholders, we have grown more than 6% and have incorporated more than 2,000 unitholders into our funds. We have also grown more than the industry”Zapata asserted.

By 2024, Credicorp Capital SAF is preparing to grow through higher net worth clients. “The configuration of the markets offers more options to diversify your portfolio and, therefore, with these clients we will have a strategy to expand their portfolio to various investment options”, he expressed. With clients with lower income levels, the strategy will focus on arrival through digital channels such as Tyba or BCP. “We will be able to get there in a closer and easier way”he added.

Finally, Zapata said that at the end of 2023 the SAF concluded the digital transformation undertaken two years ago. “With this, we will be much more present on digital channels and we will be able to carry out all this this year in a fairly powerful system. “I see a very auspicious 2024 for Credicorp Capital”he noted.