Share Ownership Grows in Brazil
Dow Jones Newswires</br></br>SAO PAULO, Brazil -- You have to be an optimist to sell stock to the general public in Brazil.</br></br>A half century of rampant inflation, ending in 1994, meant that middle class Brazilians put their meager savings into U.S. dollars, often placed literally under the mattress, or invested in real estate or telephone lines. Starting in the 1970s, banks offered at least some protection through daily interest accretions, but that did nothing to create a culture of investment in stocks.</br></br>The tide is beginning to turn -- individual investors now account for about a quarter of the trading volume on the Sao Paulo Stock Exchange, up from less than 10% a decade ago -- thanks in large part to the efforts of stock exchange officials and the local unit of Spain's Banco Santander Central Hispano.</br></br>"Brazilians know they will need investment alternatives, ideally with a high degree of liquidity," says Joao Carlos Pimenta, executive- director of the Santander-Banespa brokerage, which is widely recognized as the leading promoter among local banks of individual investment. "Stocks fit the bill."