巴西团体提议新生儿股票账户，年耗国库228亿雷亚尔

Luis Felipe Amaral Rogerio Vieira/Valor A group of asset managers, business executives, political scientists, and lawyers has developed a proposal under which every Brazilian would receive stock investments from the federal government from birth until age 18. Called Conta Convergência, the proposal has been presented to presidential candidates from several parties. Luis Felipe Amaral, CEO and chief investment officer of asset manager Drýs Capital, leads the initiative, with support from Convergência Brasil. Created during the pandemic in 2020, the group says it advocates a fairer, more equitable, and more efficient country and describes itself as independent and unaffiliated with any political party. Its members include Jorge Gerdau, chairman of the supervisory board of the Competitive Brazil Movement; Jayme Garfinkel, controlling shareholder of Porto Seguro; Fabio Barbosa, former president of Santander; and Cassio Casseb, former president of Banco do Brasil, as well as lawyer Luciano Timm, the group’s current CEO. Convergência initially championed a privatization and economic reform program that failed to move forward. It is now seeking support for Conta Convergência. Under the proposal, an investment account would automatically be opened in each newborn’s name with an initial deposit of R$1,000. The money would be invested in a low-cost exchange-traded fund, or ETF, tracking a benchmark for Brazil’s stock market. The child would receive progressively smaller contributions each year until turning 18, for total deposits of R$9,500. Assuming an annual return of 7% after inflation, projected investment gains would total R$12,000. Brazilians would thus enter adulthood with R$22,000 in starting capital invested in stocks. Most of the funds would come from investment returns rather than federal government contributions. The money could be withdrawn only after the account holder turned 18. Convergência is seeking support from presidential hopefuls. It has already presented the proposal to Dario Durigan, finance minister in the Lula administration, as well as candidates Renan Santos of the Mission Party (Missão) and Romeu Zema of the New Party (Novo). The initiative was inspired by the Invest America Act, the law that created Trump Accounts. The U.S. children’s savings and investment program began operating in July. “They managed to bring Republicans and Democrats together in support of this idea, so we thought we would try to unite the left and the right around the initiative in Brazil as well,” said Amaral of Drýs. The program would cost the federal government R$22.8 billion a year, based on 2.4 million births annually. “We want to build a generation of free citizens who are less dependent on the government and more closely aligned with economic and corporate growth,” he said. The proposal calls for investing the contributions in stocks rather than Treasury Direct securities, aiming to end the view among the country’s “rentiers” that high interest rates are beneficial. “We want more people in Brazil to become shareholders and participate in wealth creation instead of being rentiers,” he said. Translation: Todd Harkin