Karina Saade (Montevideo, 42 years old) behaves in such a warm, close and informal way that it is easy to forget that she is one of the most powerful women in Brazil.
She has directed BlackRock's operations in the largest economy in Latin America since 2021.
The CEO avoids ciphering the assets that the largest investment fund in the world manages in this country but globally they add up to 8.6 trillion dollars, yes, with B and eight zeros.
Although Brazilian, she was born in Uruguay, she spent the profits from her first investments to study in the US.
She did Economics and International Relations at Stanford and then went to Harvard.
Saade talks about the new Brazilian government, the opportunities he sees and how he manages in such a masculine ecosystem during an interview with this newspaper by video call from his office in São Paulo.
He comes to be the personification of the markets, that concept so abstract and so influential.
Ask.
What opportunities are there for investors under the new government in Brazil?
Answer.
There are structural opportunities in Brazil that are independent of the Administration in power.
Brazilian portfolios are not very diversified.
They have strong concentrations in local fixed income.
There is definitely an opportunity to optimize performance by achieving greater diversification between assets, both local and international.
Our studies show that over time, more diversified portfolios are more resilient in times of volatility.
So there is an opportunity to talk to Brazilian investors about how to diversify your portfolio, how to diversify your wealth, something that is independent of the cyclical moment in which we find ourselves.
In addition, the Brazilian fund management industry is undergoing many changes.
Before,
fintechs.
And the B3 exchange expands the number of offers.
We are in a very different moment in Brazil.
The options have expanded significantly.
There are many things about the Lula Administration that have yet to be defined, but it clearly has a strong focus on the environment.
And I think there is an opportunity for Brazilian investors, as well as foreigners looking at Brazil, to think in terms of sustainability.
Brazil is going to be more relevant in the international arena as an originator of green assets.
It will be a source of sustainable investments for Brazilian investors and for the world.
Q.
The green bond market, for example, is smaller in Brazil than in Chile and Mexico.
Is this the type of opportunity you are referring to?
R.
Green bonds are one of them.
While Brazil may be, so far, less visible with individual instruments, the truth is that, at the local level, there are a number of assets that are sustainable.
The Brazilian power grid, for example, is incredibly green, 80% of our electricity comes from hydroelectric power.
If you're an infrastructure investor, that could be very interesting.
But the question is how accessible those opportunities have been for local or foreign investors in the past.
How assets are taken, packaged, and delivered to the capital markets or private markets.
The question of how do you build that narrative and how do you export that narrative globally so that it's well known.
I think the prospects in Brazil are very strong.
Under Lula there will be more efforts to do that,
Q.
You started your career shortly before the 2008 financial crisis. Since then we have seen a debt crisis, a global pandemic and now a war in Europe.
How is BlackRock adapting to such an uncertain world?
R.
My first job at BlackRock was investing in bank assets, so I lived through the 2008 crisis very closely. I think most of us see uncertainty first as a source of opportunity because from a purely investment perspective, most of the times increases the dispersion of yields.
It increases the separation of returns across different geographies, across different industries, and that creates opportunities for investors to differentiate themselves in the bets they're making.
We call it generating alpha opportunities.
Volatility helps differentiate investors who are very attentive to a situation from those who are a little further away from it.
We have a very wide range of investors who are specialized in many geographies,
different industries and markets and we have what we believe to be a state of the art risk management system through a technology that we have developed and patented called Aladdin.
In very uncertain markets, this technology helps us to identify very quickly what our investors have and the bets we are placing.
I think our point of view is: in the midst of a lot of uncertainty, that's where the opportunity really appears for those who are looking.
We are excited that the world is always on the move.
I think our point of view is: in the midst of a lot of uncertainty, that's where the opportunity really appears for those who are looking.
We are excited that the world is always on the move.
I think our point of view is: in the midst of a lot of uncertainty, that's where the opportunity really appears for those who are looking.
We are excited that the world is always on the move.
Q.
Do you think that President Lula's open confrontation with the central bank harms investor confidence?
Is it unnecessary noise?
A.
Investors like institutional stability.
But I think investors who have been following Brazil for quite some time know that there are a lot of players on the floor.
I mean, there are a lot of checks and balances here that make the picture somewhat complex and goes beyond individual statements.
Karina Saade, CEO of BlackRock in Brazil, last Friday in front of a work by Vik Muniz at the company's Brazilian headquarters, in São Paulo. Lela Beltrão
Q.
Besides, Lula is already well known.
Whoever invests his money in Brazil knows what to expect from him.
R.
Yes, I think that most people in Brazil generally have a vision of Lula.
What they are trying to assess is whether the new mandate will match that vision they already have.
Q.
The financial story of the moment in Brazil is the fall of Americanas.
It has been reported that BlackRock bought a stake in the company just days before the gap in its accounting was announced.
What happened?
A.
Unfortunately we cannot comment on individual companies.
I can say that often a lot of our holdings are in index funds.
That is, in passive products that follow an index or any company that is in an index.
In that case, we would have to withhold participation.
It is not necessarily a specific bet on a company.
Often people just look at our full participation and immediately think we're making an active bet, but that's not always the case.
Q.
In 2021, in the midst of the pandemic, two million new investors entered the Brazilian market.
How do you see this new trend?
A.
It's exciting.
Q.
Do you think they have a good understanding of the risks, advantages and disadvantages of entering the market?
A.
That is a very good question.
For us, it is very exciting to see new people come to invest.
We consider it as a democratization.
More people with the ability to materialize their goals and own their financial future.
Is positive.
Now, to the question of whether they are adequately informed, I think it behooves all of the major players in the financial services industry to do a lot of financial education, not just for those new investors, but for the broader picture, particularly in markets that are they are developing and growing in depth.
With that exciting trend comes a big responsibility: talking to those investors in a way that makes sense to them and educating them about the various options.
Q.
We wouldn't want to let you go without asking about your experience as a young woman in a position of such power, in a world primarily dominated by men.
Has she suffered from machismo?
What have been the challenges of this position?
R.
At the higher levels of financial services some progress has been made, but it is still very unbalanced.
And it is so despite the fact that women increasingly make financial decisions in their homes.
When you look at the end user, women are playing an increasingly important role and financial services are catching up to reflect that.
Probably my biggest challenge has been the lack of references to follow.
Sometimes I have looked around me asking, who do I admire?
And I have found male role models.
My opinion is that we should stop defining the mentality as 'us women against them men' and understand that we can actually have sponsorship and collaboration and advocates in the male community.
Bring the male community closer to the female agenda as defenders of the female agenda.
Throughout my career, there have been several men who have guided and supported me.
Being able to really bring them into the conversation is something we all need to strive to do because they are still the majority.
We should all understand that female leadership does not have to be equal to male leadership.
In fact, there are many benefits to having different leadership approaches.
It's not just about doing good, it's about improving company performance, the company's ability to make decisions under stress, to connect with a broader base of customers, with regulators, to retain human capital and talent like that of
Being able to really bring them into the conversation is something we all need to strive to do because they are still the majority.
We should all understand that female leadership does not have to be equal to male leadership.
In fact, there are many benefits to having different leadership approaches.
It's not just about doing good, it's about improving company performance, the company's ability to make decisions under stress, to connect with a broader base of customers, with regulators, to retain human capital and talent like that of
Being able to really bring them into the conversation is something we all need to strive to do because they are still the majority.
We should all understand that female leadership does not have to be equal to male leadership.
In fact, there are many benefits to having different leadership approaches.
It's not just about doing good, it's about improving company performance, the company's ability to make decisions under stress, to connect with a broader base of customers, with regulators, to retain human capital and talent like that of
millennials
, for example, who are looking for a different set of values.
There are so many advantages to a more diverse leadership base and we need to broaden that narrative.
Q.
How often does it happen to you that she is the only woman in the room?
A.
Probably 90% of my time.
But, you know, it's funny.
I don't want to make it seem like I'm never intimidated because sometimes I am, but it's not because I'm a woman.
There are so many uncertainties in the world that I have to be learning all the time and part of my job is to be humble about what I know and don't know, and how much more I need to learn and be curious.
So sometimes I feel intimidated by the knowledge that surrounds me.
But I'm not intimidated by being the only woman because I recognize that I bring different skills to the room that are very, very valuable to an organization.
Women need to identify that and embody it and build that confidence.
They don't need to know everything, but the things they bring can be extremely valuable.
Follow all the information on
Economy
and
Business
on
and
, or in our
weekly newsletter
Subscribe to continue reading
Read without limits
Keep reading
I'm already a subscriber