Ilan Goldfajn
& team
Itaú BBA
First-place appearances: 0

Total appearances: 5

Team debut: 2003

Leaping from runner-up to second place is Ilan Goldfajn’s 15-strong squad at Itaú BBA; the São Paulo–based economist also oversees a runner-up team in Sovereign Debt. “Not only do they provide quality research on real-time events, but their sector insights and forward-looking reports are consistently accurate and insightful,” as one money manager puts it. The most important issue right now is the “impact of higher U.S. Treasury interest rates on capital flows to the region,” Goldfajn says. “We would observe selling pressure on Latin America financial assets, but over time the better U.S. growth prospects may help stabilize the short-term pressure and return to a reasonable economic performance. We expect high growth in the region to continue, albeit at a slower pace.” — Carolyn Koo