The turnaround in the Latin American financial market has, in part, been driven by a wave of young professional talent taking up roles in the financial sector, according to Bartholome Massot, head of Latin America at Quest.
Data for 2017 from the World Bank predicts the Latin American market to have shown GDP growth for the first time in six years.
According to the data across all Latin American countries, excluding Venezuela and the Caribbean, growth in gross domestic product is predicted at 2.5 percent in 2017, up from 2.2 percent the year before.
One of the key factors behind the turnaround has been an influx of young talent, with students who studied in the US and the EU returning to their home countries and taking up roles in the financial sector.
“The world is changing,” explains Massot, “these young people know what is done in more developed economies and they are doing it now back in Latin America, they have been doing it for several years.”
He continued: “They’re doing what it took people in more developed countries 30 or 40 years to accomplish, and they’re doing it in a very short period–that is what is interesting. They’re doing it faster than we did it and they’re doing it with the knowledge that we have in our companies.”
“Now the consensus seems to be that these Latin American countries are joining the global economy and, this time, they are here to stay. I’m saying this because policymakers know that a sustainable economy requires investing in education, especially in financial education.”
Subscribe for free to the next issue of Captive Insurance Times, published on 7 March, to read the full interview with Bartholome Massot.