There cannot be many private investment office-style businesses that can boast a former president of a major central bank as an advisory board member. Bedrock recently achieved that feat by bringing Henrique de Campos Meirelles into its fold.

There cannot be many private investment office-style businesses that can boast a former president of one of the world’s most significant central banks as an advisory board member. But at Bedrock, the firm recently achieved that feat by bringing Henrique de Campos Meirelles into its fold.

That appointment was announced – as reported here – in early July. And in a meeting with WealthBriefing at Bedrock’s offices in London’s fashionable Mayfair district, Meirelles and his colleagues spoke bullishly about Brazil and how they intend to target wealthy Brazilian families as part of their business offering. The firm has offices in London, Geneva and Monaco.

Brazil has overtaken the UK as the world’s sixth largest economy and as one of the BRICs, the country’s expanding fortunes are also driving the growth of an affluent middle class, a stabilising feature in a country infamous for its traditional gulf between a small, super-rich elite and a large, and impoverished working class. Other developments signal Brazil’s ascent: the country plays host to the 2016 Olympic Games and stages the 2014 World Cup. (Admittedly, not everyone might agree that hosting sometimes expensive sports events is a barometer of economic prowess.)

And the rise of a large middle class is something wealth managers will pay particular attention to, Meirelles said.

Some 55 per cent of the total population can now be so described as middle class, up from 35 per cent a few years ago, he said. “More than 70 per cent of the population have substantial purchasing power,” he said.

The economic turnaround in Brazil is impressive, he said. And although he modestly did not claim credit for all of that change, Meirelles was at the helm of the country’s monetary policy when much of the rise took place.

During the 1970s, the country had leveraged up its economy and enjoyed a period of rapid growth. However, with the tightening of global monetary policy in the early 1980s, led by Volcker at the Federal Reserve, the position of Brazil worsened. The country went through a painful deleveraging process, which stabilised by the mid 1990s, and since then the country has grown to become one of the world’s largest economies, with a particularly important growth phase since 2003.

“The country has a net debt to GDP ratio of 35 per cent. It has total external debt of around $80 billion, and four times as many international currency reserves,” he said, adding that between 2004 and 2010, the average GDP growth rate was around 5 per cent.

In the recent past, Brazil had the bonus of having a large pool of relatively cheap labour and strong credit growth. However, as the economy has grown and unemployment has shrunk, the country must look to investment and higher productivity to stay competitive, he said.

“We have to advance more in productivity terms where Brazil has a natural economic advantage,” Meirelles added.

According to the recent Credit Suisse Research Institute survey of wealth trends, there are 1,500 ultra high net worth individuals in Brazil (as defined by those having net assets of at least $50 million). Brazil is a long way behind the US, however, with 37,950 UHNW individuals. Brazil has 227,000 millionaires, and that figure is expected to rise by 119 per cent between now and 2017, the fastest growth rate of any country (in second place in percentage growth terms is Russia.)

Brazilian companies, as well as individual investors, are likely to be increasingly visible in Western markets, including Europe's, he said. In the wealth industry, for example, Brazil's Safra recently purchased Rabobank's majority stake in Sarasin, giving the Latin American business a foothold in the Swiss private wealth management industry. 

Big bonus

And his colleague, Ariel Arazi, co-founder and managing partner at Bedrock, said having a former central bank head involved with the firm gave it a priceless advantage at a time when the interest in Brazil is only going to continue growing.

“There are two countries around the world that you cannot avoid: China and Brazil. We are very excited to have Henrique on board with us. We are looking to establish ties with Brazilian families; we want to see how Brazilian families and companies are coming to Europe,” he said.

“There are lots of opportunities. The issue, of course, is timing. I am sure you will be seeing a lot in the next few years.”