Brazil’s Bradesco bank wants to follow its wealthy customers to Portugal – newspaper

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Bradesco has put on the table the possibility of opening an office to serve its wealthy clients who have moved to Portugal, writes Exame newspaper.

The market in Portugal had been monitored by the bank for some time, writes Exame. After the pandemic, a faster migration of families from the private banking segment of the financial institution, dedicated to clients with millions to invest, caused the studies about the move to be resumed, says Guto Miranda, responsible for Bradesco’s private banking, to the newspaper.

The executive states that, so far, the bank has been serving these clients who have moved to Portugal with professionals based at Bradesco’s unit in Luxembourg, who move around to provide the service. “We realized that both because of the Golden Visa (possibility to obtain a residence visa for investments) and because of the purchase of real estate, more of our clients have migrated to Portugal”, says Miranda. The idea, according to him, is that this occurs as soon as the pandemic ends.

“Between 50 and 100 families served by private banking migrated there between 2020 and 2021. For us, this brings another growth potential offshore,” says the executive.

Bradesco’s private banking area encompasses R$365 (US$64) billion in funds under custody, or a share of about 20% of the Brazilian market, which totals R$1.8 trillion (US$316 billion), according to data from the Brazilian Association of Financial and Capital Market Entities (Anbima).

Staying close to customers has proven to be an essential strategy at a time of high competition for this market niche. If it follows this path, Bradesco will follow the steps of Itaú Unibanco and BTG Pactual, which already have positioned themselves in the country by following the money trail of their clients. XP has a similar project.

GATEWAY

Looking at the Portuguese market is a necessary strategy for banks to follow their clients and position themselves in the European market, pointed out the director of the banking area of the German consulting company Roland Berger, João Bragança.

The private banking market in Portugal represents a total of US$200 billion, according to Berger’s calculations. Over the last ten years, this number has been growing since the Portuguese government brought benefits to attract foreign investors to the country in exchange for citizenship.

This attracted high-income people from other countries – Brazil led this movement. “Having a local presence is important for banks to maintain the loyalty of this client,” says Bragança.

The markets in numbers:

– R$365 (US$64) billion is how much Bradesco’s private banking area encompasses in resources under custody;
– Bradesco holds 20% of this market, which totals R$1.8 trillion (US$316 billion), according to the Financial and Capital Markets Association (Anbima);
– US$200 billion is the size of Portugal’s private banking market, according to Roland Berger’s calculations.