SECOND TEAM

Guilherme da Nóbrega, Ilan Goldfajn & team  Itaú BBA

Leaping from runner-up to second place is the 16-strong Itaú BBA squadron piloted by new co-leader Ilan Goldfajn and Guilherme da Nóbrega, both of whom work out of São Paulo. “The team is always in contact with clients ­— they communicate rapidly and effectively with market participants,” avers one client. In October the economists predicted that booming commodities prices and local demand pressures would lead to higher inflation, thus prompting central banks throughout the region to raise interest rates. In addition, “the risks of contagion from debt-laden euro zone economies and a weak U.S. housing and job markets still loomed large,” so policymakers would take steps to engineer soft landings in the event of further global economic setbacks. They were right. Central banks in Brazil, Chile and Colombia have since raised interest rates in an attempt to curb inflation. Mexico is the exception among major Latin American economies; Banco de México has maintained its benchmark rate at a record low 4.5 percent since July 2009, although the bank has not ruled out a modest rate hike later this year.