Regulation roundtable at the Fórum de Fundos Soberanos Brasileiros

Paul Katz represented Jain Family Institute at the roundtable on regulation that the Fórum de Fundos Soberanos Brasileiros held at the Ministério do Planejamento e Orçamento in Brasília last week. The roundtable sought to advance regulatory security for the country’s growing number of subnational wealth funds, which together account for roughly R$8B BRL ($1.4B USD) in owned assets.

Katz moderated a discussion with Laura Carvalho of OSF, Gabriela Vichi de Almeida, CP³P-F of the Espírito Santo State Development Bank Bandes ES, and FFSB’s Fernando Amorim Teixeira, on ways that Brazil’s subnational wealth funds can drive strategic and impactful investment, including from abroad.

The roundtable comes at an pivotal moment for the field, as more Brazilian subnational governments are studying and creating permanent royalty funds as vehicles for intertemporal management and strategic investment, and as Espírito Santo prepares to choose a manager for the most ambitious project yet undertaken by the state’s 2B BRL (360M USD) SWF since its launch in 2019: a 500M BRL (90M USD) decarbonization fund, key to the state’s plan to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 37% by 2030. (Governor Renato Casagrande joined JFI’s SWF social impact workshop in New York last month to discuss this initiative.)

The roundtable included high-level representatives of many of the organizations most critical to advancing the sector-specific federal regulation needed for security and innovation. Beyond the funds themselves, they included state actors including BNDES and Banco do Brasil; the Ministries of Finance, of the Environment; and of Planning and Budget (our host); the associations of audit courts and development banks; and key civil society partners including Maria Netto and the Institute for Climate and Society, Jorge Arbache, Sergio Gusmão Suchodolski, and Principles for Responsible Investment.

Katz wrote, “I left feeling fortunate as ever to be a part of a community centered on this noble mission, and remain tremendously impressed by, and grateful for, the work of Leandro Teodoro Ferreira, Fernando Amorim Teixeira, Georgia Simonelly, Nayara Maia, and Maurício Moromizato — and for the support from OSF and ICS that made the roundtable possible.”