This week I published a new study on crossborder fund opportunities in Chilean pension funds, with one of our LatAm analysts, Marlon Valle.

A few highlights from the study, “Spotlight on Chile“:

– Cross-border pension fund opportunities in Chile: 70% of Chilean pension assets are currently allowed to be invested overseas, a ceiling set to increase to 75% in Q2/2011 and 80% in Q3/2011. As a result, $68 billion out of $148 billion in total Chilean pension fund assets have been invested offshore to date, benefiting a range of large and boutique fund managers.

– Big Pots of Money for Fund Managers in Chile: The top 10 offshore equity and bond funds in Chilean pension funds as of Q1/2011 accounted for 24% and 19% in total offshore assets, respectively, led by Franklin Templeton and Fidelity, JPMorgan, Vanguard/SSgA, Schroders, and Gartmore.

– Building Asia & Emerging Market Bridges: Five of the top 10 equity funds in Chile have an Asia focus (Franklin Templeton, Fidelity, Schroders), followed by Latin America as a region (Gartmore, Blackrock), broad and narrow (Russia) emerging market plays (Vanguard, JPMorgan), and the US (SPDR 500 ETF).

– Chile as the Hong Kong of Latin America: Chile has more UCITS registered for sale than Hong Kong. With increasing flows to emerging markets themes cross-border and via mandates, Chile, Peru, and Colombia are quickly developing as hubs for Latin America, similar to Hong Kong, Singapore, and Taiwan for Asia.

For more details, please visit: http://www.sionline.com/global/default.aspx

Media coverage:

– International Adviser, Strategic Insight: Offshore investing boosts Chile pensions

– Opalesque: Chilean pension fund flows moving offshore should benefit hedge fund

– Planadviser.com: Investors put trust back in equities