Brazil’s Campos Neto named Latin America’s central banker of the year

Brazil’s Roberto Campos Neto, 53, was named Latin America’s Central Bank Governor of the Year at the LatinFinance Banks of the Year Awards.

The Brazilian was praised for managing the impact of the pandemic, the war in Ukraine, and the global financial crisis.

The economist is being recognized for his efforts to build credibility at the bank.

The award states that he was the region’s most effective monetary policy manager from July 2021 to June 2022.

The Brazilian Monetary Authority started raising interest rates in March 2021, when they were at 2% per year.

Since then, the increase has been 11.75 percentage points to 13.75% per year.

With this stricter policy, Campos Neto has signaled that Selic will stay high longer than the market is pricing in.

“The institution was one of the first central banks in the world to start its tightening cycle in March 2021,” Campos Neto told LatinFinance.

Brazil’s central bank has not met its inflation target for 2021.

It is certain that it will not be reached in 2022 either, no matter how much the government has been able to cool inflation through tax cuts.

The central target for this year is 3.5%, with a tolerance of up to 5%. According to the BC Focus Bulletin, financial market analysts expect the index to end the year at 5.7%.

However, the performance of the monetary authority is considered positive.

All over the world, central banks are facing difficulties: pandemic, increase in public spending, and war.

While gaining credibility in the international capital markets, Campos Neto has also implemented an agenda to modernize the financial system.

The introduction of the PIX instant payment system and Open Finance is on the list.

WHO IS ROBERTO CAMPOS NETO

Before being appointed president of the central bank, Campos Neto, was in charge of finance in the Americas at Santander Bank.

After graduating in economics from the University of California, where he specialized in economics with a focus on finance, he worked from 1996 to 1999 at the investment bank Bozano Simonsen, in which Minister of Economy Paulo Guedes was also involved.

In 1996 he was a trader in interest rate and foreign exchange derivatives. In 1997 as a trader in foreign debt and in 1998, as a trader in the stock market.

Subsequently, he was an executive in international fixed income.

From 2000 to 2003, he was head of fixed income at Santander Brasil, and the following year he became a portfolio manager at Clarita Investimentos.

In 2005, he returned to Santander as a trader and was appointed Head of Trading in 2006.

In 2010, he moved to Treasury and Regional and International Market Makers.

An economist, he is the grandson of diplomat Roberto Campos (1917-2001), a champion of liberalism.

Campos was Minister of Planning under Castelo Branco, the first president of the military regime, and President of BNDES (National Bank for Social Development) under Juscelino Kubitschek.

He was also a federal deputy and senator.