CRI, CRA and letras financeiras

Beyond CDBs and debêntures sit several more instruments worth recognising, even if you do not buy them early on.

CRI and CRA — securitised receivables

• CRI (Certificado de Recebíveis Imobiliários) — a bond backed by real-estate receivables (e.g. streams of property payments).
• CRA (Certificado de Recebíveis do Agronegócio) — the same structure backed by agribusiness receivables.

Both are issued by securitisation companies, not banks, so — like debêntures — they are not covered by the FGC. Their attraction is that, at the time of writing, returns are income-tax-exempt for individuals, similar to LCI/LCA, while typically offering higher yields. The flip side is real credit risk tied to the underlying receivables, and often low liquidity. Verify the current tax treatment before assuming exemption.

Letras financeiras

A letra financeira (LF) is a longer-term bond issued by banks, usually with:

• High minimums (historically in the order of tens of thousands of reais), aimed at larger investors.
• Long terms (a multi-year minimum) and no FGC coverage.
• Higher yields than a comparable CDB to compensate for the longer lock-up and absence of the guarantee.

How to slot these in

Think of fixed income as a ladder of risk and reward:

1. Government bonds (Tesouro) — lowest risk, the reference rate.
2. FGC-protected bank instruments (CDB, LCI, LCA) — low risk up to the FGC limit.
3. Unguaranteed credit (debêntures, CRI, CRA, LF) — higher yield, real issuer risk, often lower liquidity.

Most beginners should master levels 1 and 2 before stepping to level 3, and only then with money they can commit and after assessing each issuer.