JPMorgan Chase Says Long-Term Trends Point to Growth in LatAm

With a growing amount of investment and commerce appearing to be headed to Latin America over the long term, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reportedly expects to continue growing its financial services offerings in the region.

Latin America is benefiting from the nearshoring trend of manufacturing moving to the region from China, increased financial flows headed there following the war in Ukraine and rising tension between the United States and China, and private investment aimed at combating climate change, JPMorgan Chase CEO Latin America and Canada Alfonso Eyzaguirre told Reuters in an interview.

As a result, the bank will keep growing its presence in the region, Eyzaguirre said.

JPMorgan Chase has been adding services for corporate clients in Latin America, has grown its workforce in the region to 6,200 and built a tech hub in Argentina. In addition, it offers retail banking services in Brazil after buying a 40% stake in C6 Bank, according to the report.

“We chose Brazil due to the size of the population, high internet usage, as well as central bank regulations already adapted to FinTechs,” Eyazguirre told Reuters.

JPMorgan Chase did not immediately respond to PYMNTS’ request for comment.

JPMorgan acquired its stake in C6 Bank in June 2021 and noted at the time that the Brazilian retail market has seen new levels of digital adoption as the country has seen regulatory reform and modernizing of infrastructure.

At the time, over 60% of Brazilian bank transactions were already being done digitally.

In October, it was reported that C6, which had been a digital bank, was preparing to open its first brick-and-mortar locations in a bid to attract wealthier clients.

C6 aims to have an office in each of Brazil’s capitals, along with other communities with a large pool of wealthy potential customers, adding up to dozens of offices to be opened in the country by the end of 2023.