Miami firm gains as big banks drop Latin America clients

investmentnews.com:

As more U.S. banks cut back wealth management services for clients in Latin America, a Miami-based firm has been reaping the benefits.

Insigneo, which provides a platform with different services for independent investment advisers, has tripled its staff and increased assets under management in its ecosystem to more than $20 billion from less than $3 billion just six years ago.

The number of independent investment professionals using the platform has grown to nearly 500 in that period and Insigneo’s executives are on the hunt for potential acquisitions to keep increasing their share of the industry. 

“We somehow found a lane that was left open to us which is quite unusual in an industry that has been so well established,” Raul Henriquez, 62, founder and chief executive officer, said in an interview at Insigneo’s headquarters in Brickell. “It’s been kind of an accidental phenomenon that has allowed a very small player like us to start becoming more relevant.”

In recent years, banks including Wells Fargo & Co. and Morgan Stanley have either exited or restricted wealth management services to some clients in Latin America. 

In other cases, minimum amounts to work with customers have increased. Regulatory changes and “know your customer” requirements have led firms to stop servicing some clients since the impact on the business is relatively small, Henriquez said.

That’s where Insigneo steps in. The firm allows wealth managers to keep their book of clients and receive services ranging from tax support to compliance to technology and portfolio models, said Javier Rivero, 45, the chief operating officer. 

“Everything that the adviser had at the larger firm, we’ve replicated, but we’ve replicated in a simpler way and in a way