MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Standard Chartered to expand LatAm franchise with new office.

UK banking group Standard Chartered plans to open a representative office in Chile to tap growing trade with Asia, the bank's head of Latin America, Rodolfo Alborelli told BNamericas.

The final decision to open the office is likely to come this year, said Alborelli, who sees Chile as the bank's only physical expansion project in the region for now.

Standard Chartered currently serves financial institutions, multinationals and large local corporations in the region through offices in Argentina, Brazil, Peru, Colombia, Mexico and Falkland Islands.

Standard Chartered sees Chile as one of its fastest growing markets in Latin America this year. Other markets that are expected to do well for the bank are Brazil, Mexico, Argentina, and to a lesser extent Peru, he said.

Alborelli said the bank wants to grow Latin America's contribution to its global operations, but ruled out an entry into retail banking.

Standard Chartered employs 30,000 people in some 50 countries in the Americas, Asia Pacific Region, South Asia, the Middle East, Africa and the UK.