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UBS Group AG is branching out into rural Brazil to find millionaires created by rapid growth in the agribusiness and tech industries.
The Swiss bank plans to open a wealth-management office in the midwestern city of Goiania, the capital of what’s known as Brazilian Texas because of its similarities to the farm-rich US state. Another will open this month in Recife, a beachfront city in the Northeast that’s developing into a technology hub.
“Most banks never explore the interior much,†Sylvia B. Coutinho, president of UBS in Brazil and head of wealth management in Latin America, said in an interview in Sao Paulo.
Diverging fortunes in the nation’s private-banking industry show why UBS is targeting the countryside. While the overall market expanded 5.2% to 1.87 trillion reais ($370 billion) under management this year through September, private banking in just the Midwest surged 22%, to 54.6 billion reais.
UBS has 1,300 employees dedicated to 50,000 Latin American private-banking clients, including 570 wealth advisers. Its wealth-management business currently has offices in Sao Paulo, Rio de Janeiro and the southern city of Curitiba.
—Bloomberg