MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Standard Chartered Private Banking Assets in Latin America to Double

President & CEO, Private Bank, Americas

The UK's Standard Chartered will focus on serving Latin American clients in segments requiring direct access to Asia, Africa and the Middle East, the bank's head of private banking in the Americas, John Leto, told BNamericas, saying he plans to double its private banking assets in the region in two years.

 “We are pretty comprehensive in our coverage model, but we have a geographic focus in Brazil and the Southern Cone. My aspirations are to work closely with clients that have the need to have exposure to Asia, Africa and the Middle East - rather than to [just] sell products,” he said, declining to provide the bank's current figures for private banking in the region.

In February 2008, Standard Chartered bought American Express Bank from American Express (NYSE: AXP) for US$823mn, leaving the UK bank with some US$6bn in assets under management (AUM) in Latin America.

In the region, Standard Chartered has private banking offices in Uruguay, Chile and the Cayman Islands.

“We have a very strong opinion on the Latin American wealth market, and clearly the largest wealth market in Latin America today is Brazil. Something like 70% of Latin America's market cap and 50% of the US$2tn Latin America wealth market resides in Brazil, Chile and Argentina, and that helps us focus our geographic strategy,” Leto said.