Tracking the Activities of Global Asset Managers in Latin America
“According to our estimates, the overall size of the three asset-gathering segments stands at USD 105 billion, with the US offshore segment accounting for more than half of the total at USD 56 billion,” said Thomas Ciampi, founder and director of Latin Asset Management.
Repatriation or sunlighting of undeclared overseas assets could generate new flows to local private banks and wealth managers.
The firm, which has focused mostly on brokerage since its arrival in March of 2014, will expand its operations in Mexico to private banking and fund management, under the direction of Guillermo Ortiz Martínez, ex-governor of the Bank of Mexico.
Gustavo Pires, commercial manager at fund platform XP, estimated that, with new rules lowering the minimum investment on global funds, the potential audience for global feeder funds is likely to expand 50-fold in Brazil.
Morgan said that clients with less than the USD 500,000 minimum will be serviced through an international call center, beginning in January 2016.
The global firm hired two former Credit Suisse executives, Javier Mendicute and Andrea Cuomo, to launch the new venture in Chile.
Seigal was hired to help grow the group's offshore platform and is taking over from José Salazar. He will work alongside Kevin McCarty, Morgan Stanley's Miami complex manager.
Investors residing in some countries - including Venezuela and Argentina - will need to have at least USD 5 million to open an account.
The manager is expected to close distribution agreements with a handful of local private banks by the end of the year.
The partnership with NSC Asesores, Mexico's leading independent financial advisory, gives Julius Baer "access to one of the largest and most promising domestic wealth management markets in Latin America," said Boris F.J. Collardi, CEO of Julius Baer.
