Lat Am pension funds switch to emerging markets ETFs

Investec managing director of international distribution Richard Garland says Latin American pension funds are often limited by law in what share of their portfolio they can invest in non-domestic equities. He says: "This means they often lack the expertise to make direct allocations to foreign equities. Therefore they use mutual funds, but increasingly ETFs, although it varies from country to country." Peru is the heaviest user of ETFs, while Mexican pension funds, which can invest up to 10% of their portfolios in foreign holdings, use only ETFs as they are not allowed to invest in m...