Ana Clara Pedotti
04/28/2021 2:36 PM
Clarín.com
Economy
Updated 04/28/2021 2:36 PM
In an economy where
high inflation
is a recurring symptom,
saving seems an increasingly complex task.
And, although the expenses of each month accelerate
, leaving the money in the account "still" is not a sustainable alternative
for savers.
Banks and wallets offer an option that perhaps has not yet been fully explored by a large part of the population, but that allows to put that money to yield so as not to lose so much with the monthly price increase.
These are
mutual funds
or FCIs with daily liquidity, which, unlike fixed terms, allow access to the funds almost instantaneously, but guarantee an annual return.
Although
term deposits
continue to be the best known alternative to most Argentines, in a context of high inflation and with the
dollar that has begun to react after the months of the exchange rate summer
, they are not efficient to guarantee the value of the pesos, for two reasons.
On the one hand, the rates paid by banks are set by the Central Bank at 38% per year, so if you take the inflation projected for this year, which is now closer to 50%, it ends up offering a
negative real rate.
On the other hand, in times of great volatility it does not seem attractive not to have access to savings for 30 days.
Therefore,
highly liquid mutual funds
appear as an interesting option for many small savers because, although their
performance is lower than that of a fixed term, they
allow access to the account balances valued almost immediately.
They are funds that invest in
short-term, low-risk products.
Both
banks and
virtual
wallets
have this option available, which gains space among their clients: either fintech or traditional entities register a strong increase in the use of these instruments.
From the fintech sector,
Mercado Pago made a
point and was the first wallet to offer them in alliance with Banco Industrial.
"This solution, launched in 2018, allows users to generate
daily returns easily and with low risk,
but with the possibility of using the money at any time since it is not necessary to freeze the funds for a specified period," explained sources from Marcos Galperín's company.
Almost three years after its launch,
2.3 million Argentines
used this way of capitalizing their balances.
Approximately, they calculate,
for every 10,000 pesos invested in the app, they earn $ 251 per month, with a rate of 30.1% per year.
Ualá
followed in his footsteps and last year launched its low-risk mutual fund called SBS Ahorro Pesos FCI, together with Grupo SBS.
"Through this functionality, users have the possibility of
investing from $ 1
and freeing that money at the moment they want to do so, with no minimum time of permanence.
Another advantage is that
investments
can be made
automatically
.
That is, users can choose if they want a percentage of the next balance charges in their Ualá account to be invested automatically.
Always having the possibility of activating, deactivating and modifying this option at any time ", they explained from the company.
What banks offer
The fintech landing in the fund industry boosted the sector
and brought more clients, in many cases unbanked people, closer to their first investments.
In parallel, in
traditional banking
, which already offered these instruments, there is also strong interest from new savers, especially from the possibilities of subscribing these FCIs in digital form.
At
Banco Galicia
, for example, you can start investing savings and checking account balances
from the app
and also from the website.
Ricardo Jaimes Freyre, commercial head of Galicia Asset Management explained: "We offer a diversified family of funds, for the
different types of risk
that clients seek and the different investment objectives".
And he adds: "Our cash management fund
, Fima Premium
, has been pulling very well in terms of the amount of money managed, since as it invests in
fixed terms and remunerated accounts, it
has
zero risk
and a
past return of 31% per year.
Clients prioritize being able to access to that money almost instantaneously, at the cost of a lower return than in other types of funds, which I call the liquidity premium. "
In
Santander
, meanwhile, the demand for the most liquid funds is growing. "Santander Asset Management has among its family of funds three products of what is called Cash Management: Super Saving $ (classic Money Market that invests in fixed term and paid demand accounts), Super Saving Plus (dynamic Money Market) and Supergestion Mix VI which is a Fixed Income fund with a duration of less than 180 days, more commonly
called T + 1 in the jargon.
Both Money Markets pay their redemptions on the day and the T + 1 does so in 24 hours " , explained Aníbal Merino, Portfolio Manager of Santander Asset Management.
Banco Macro
also allows you to subscribe and redeem funds from its mobile app. "Clients have turned extensively to the FCI Money Market over any other product in the fund family," said Agustín Devoto, director of Macro Securities.
These funds yield between 30% and 31% annually.
HSBC's Christian Sieling anticipated that
from May
the bank's clients will also be able to operate these instruments from the new application. "In the first quarter of the year, the number of
new clients who open an account to start investing
grew strongly
,
as well as the amount of money managed by our funds. Before starting, we suggest that clients take their investor test to find out what type of funds is best for your profile. "
In public banking, Banco Provincia funds also showed a strong increase in managed capital in the last year, especially due to the attractiveness of its more liquid funds.
"Where the most is invested is in Money Market funds, the Raíces Ahorro pesos fund, which yields almost 32%," explained sources from the Buenos Aires entity.
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