Against an improving economic picture, Latin American private banks update their offerings and welcome new clients.
Latin America’s economy shows signs of improvement on the back of a prolonged commodities supercycle in the first half of the year and declining interest rates in the third quarter. This comes as the region’s central banks claim victory over inflation after the aggressive monetary tightening that swept the region starting in 2021 succeeded in pushing headline inflation downward.
Aggregated data estimates reveal a substantial pass-through from the monetary policy rate to the average rates on banks’ interest-earning assets and liabilities in Latin American countries over the past two decades. Against this backdrop, Latin American private banks this year have posted solid growth rates in both assets under management (AUM) and new-customer acquisition.
Best Private Bank In Latin America: BTG Pactual Wealth Management
After two years of above-average growth, BTG Pactual’s private bank has maintained its upward trajectory in 2023 by focusing on the ultrahigh net worth (UHNW) customer segment. That has helped push the bank’s AUM to $112 billion as of March, marking a 16% year-on-year increase and 99% growth since March 2021. The influx of new UHNW clients drove net new money to $23.8 billion over the year, and revenue surged by 51% to reach $516.5 million.
BTG Pactual credits its decision to hire and develop top professionals for the UHNW and HNW segments with a 58% growth in Wealth Management Latin America’s client-facing staff since 2020.
Best Private Bank For Sustainable Investing: Bradesco Global Private Bank
Sustainability has become a fundamental pillar of Bradesco Global Private Bank’s culture and vision. The bank is now included in leading sustainability indexes and environmental, social, and governance (ESG) ratings globally, and it has implemented various measures to enhance its environmental commitment.
The bank reports that 99.8% of Bradesco Asset Management’s AUM meets ESG criteria. Bradesco is the top-ranked Brazilian private bank on the Dow Jones Sustainability World Index, with 100% of its operations powered by renewable energy and operational carbon emissions fully offset.
Best Private Bank Digital Solutions For Clients: Santander Private Banking
Santander’s digital private client count increased by 11% last year, bolstered by continuing enhancements to improve the client experience across Latin America.
In Chile, the Mis Objetivos platform transformed how clients approach their financial goals, enabling automatic monthly investments from their bank accounts along with personalized investment advice. In Brazil, Santander streamlined communications through media-rich push notifications, doubling digital clients and quintupling monthly visits. The bank also continued investing in Spirit, a multilingual tool that supplies bankers with client information and tailored investment proposals. Santander’s team in Argentina improved the tool with enhanced client-position information and segmentation.
Moreover, the bank introduced Brazil’s Home Bolsa, which the bank credits with a 42% increase in trades from clients, offering a user-friendly experience with real-time stock market monitoring, exclusive content, and personalized suggestions.
Virginia, Santander’s flagship e-banking solution, also saw improvements globally, including an added derivatives functionality in Mexico and Miami.
