By Rogerio Jelmayer
SAO PAULO--Latin America's largest bank is looking to expand its
presence in the U.S., and is eyeing the possibility of buying some
assets in the states of Florida and New Jersey, a senior bank
executive said Thursday.
"It doesn't make sense for us to have just three branches that
we bought there through Eurobank, we're looking at assets in
Florida and New Jersey where there's a large presence of
Brazilians," said Paulo Rogerio Cafarelli, vice president of
international business at Banco do Brasil.
In 2011, Bando do Brasil bought tiny, Florida-based Eurobank,
for $6 million. A more concerted effort to expand into retail
banking abroad started in late 2010, with the acquisition of a
majority stake in Argentina's Banco Patagonia SA.
The bank is still looking at acquisitions in Latin America, he
said. The bank has previously said it's most interested in Chile,
Colombia and Peru in the region.
"The rationale for our expansion abroad is to be whether there's
a big concentration of Brazilians and also to serve Brazilian
companies out there," Mr. Cafarelli said during a press conference
to discuss the firm's fourth quarter results.
The bank has said it wants international operations to account
for 10% of the business, up from around 5%.
Write to Rogerio Jelmayer at rogerio.jelmayer@dowjones.com