Mirabaud is going onshore in South America, in a bid to tap the region's wealth. The Swiss wealth manager is likely to get a lift from Julius Baer's troubles in the region.
Geneva-based Mirabaud is deepening its footprint in Latin America, where it maintains an asset management presence in Sao Paolo. The Swiss private bank will open an office in Montevideo, the capitol of Uruguay, it said in a statement on Wednesday.
The bank clinched two approvals from Uruguay's central bank: one for domestic clients and one for clients from wider Latin America. «In recent years our Latin American client base has grown, so it was natural for us to establish a presence closer to them in order to serve them better», managing partner Nicolas Mirabaud said.
Poached from Rival
The move follows Mirabaud's poaching of a five-person team around Fabio Kreplak from Julius Baer last year, as finews.com reported. Another part of the team working under Geronimo Escudero in Zurich also defected to Mirabaud.
Kreplak, a Latin America veteran who reportedly oversaw a client book of $700 million at Julius Baer, will oversee both Uruguayan subsidiaries. He will report to Thiago Frazao, the head of Mirabaud's wealth management arm in Latin America and who became a limited partner last month. Mirabaud expects the office to grow to six bankers during the course of this year, it said.
