Lombard Odier has opened an office in São Paulo to take advantage of what it believes is an opportunity to grow an onshore wealth management business in Brazil.
The move has surprised some, coming as it does in the face of larger players’ retrenchment. JPMorgan recently left Brazil and passed its onshore client base to Bradesco.
However, Matteo Dignola, head of Latin America for the privately held Swiss bank, is confident there is space in the market.
“Brazil is one of our core markets and there is an increasing demand for bespoke wealth management services,” he says.
The bank will be targeting clients who have a minimum of $1 million to allocate to international investments, which the bank will hold in custody in either Switzerland or the Bahamas.
Dignola joined Lombard Odier in August 2019 to build its Latin American business and the Brazil office is the first step in a wider regional build-out.
The bank has recruited Mariella Assumpcao Gontijo from Itaú, where she was head of the high net-worth segment in its private bank. Previously, she worked for Credit Agricole and spent three years at its private bank in Geneva.
