SOUTHERN COMFORT

摘要

A local market. In July, BlackRock launched the first Colombian exchange-traded fund — IShares Colcap, which tracks the 20 most-liquid stocks on the Bolsa de Valores de Colombia. The firm, which has attracted $700 million to Colcap, most of it from Colombian pension funds, uses Citi for Latin American custody, asset servicing, fund administration and accounting. Having also launched ETFs in Brazil, Chile, Mexico and Peru, New York-based BlackRock wants to appeal to Brazilian institutional investors. It's recently talked to 20 of the country's biggest pension funds, notes Daniel Gamba, CEO of BlackRock Latin America and Iberia. "We work with Citi as custodian due to its local presence, coupled with the respect it's gained from Latin American governments," Gamba says.