Carlos Leibowicz, CEO, Bradesco Bank

Invest: spoke with Carlos Leibowicz, CEO of Bradesco Bank, about the bank’s expansion strategy in the United States, its focus on wealth management for Brazilian clients, and Miami’s role as a cross-border financial hub. “We want to be a relationship bank and follow our clients,” Leibowicz said.

What opportunities do you see in South Florida and Miami for expanding wealth management and private banking services for Bradesco Bank?

Bradesco is one of Brazil’s leading banks, with 83 years of history and a universal banking model that serves all segments and geographies within the country. Our international strategy is centered on following Brazilian clients who need financial services abroad. We are not here to compete for the mass American market. Our purpose in the United States is to serve Brazilians and facilitate cross-border financial relationships.

Bradesco has had a presence in the United States since 1972 through our New York branch, which focuses on corporate and investment banking for large Brazilian companies. In Miami, we entered the market in 2020 through the acquisition of BAC Florida Bank. That institution had built, over more than 30 years, a strong franchise in residential mortgage lending for non-U.S. residents purchasing property in South Florida. We have doubled the size of the bank since the acquisition and strengthened that foundation.

Today, the core of our growth strategy in Miami is wealth management for Brazilian clients. We launched our private banking platform in 2024 and are now expanding into the affluent segment, which significantly broadens the addressable market. In Brazil alone, the private banking segment includes fewer than 100,000 families, while the affluent segment represents well over one million potential clients.

Our approach to wealth management is distinct. We do not see it as purely portfolio management. We are a relationship bank. That means we provide a full suite of services, including checking accounts, credit cards, residential mortgages, and investment solutions. Many of our wealth management clients either already have or intend to establish business operations in the United States. For us, managing wealth is only one dimension of a broader financial relationship.

Over the next three to five years, this strategy will transform the shape of Bradesco Bank in the U.S. Wealth management will become our central business line.

How is Bradesco Bank leveraging its international expertise to serve both U.S. residents and non-resident clients from Brazil and the wider Latin American region?

Our historical strength in Miami was serving non-resident clients, particularly from Central America and Latin America, who sought to finance property purchases in the United States. We inherited a strong and compliant business model that serves clients from countries such as Guatemala, the Dominican Republic, Honduras, El Salvador, and Panama. These long-standing relationships remain important to us.

For Brazilian non-residents, we are building a fully digital onboarding and servicing backbone. Clients no longer need to travel to Miami to open an account or manage their financial affairs. The process is secure, compliant, and integrated with our Brazilian systems. This digital infrastructure allows us to serve clients abroad efficiently while maintaining regulatory standards.

We also see significant opportunities among Brazilian residents in the United States. There are approximately 2 million Brazilians living in the United States, with large concentrations in Massachusetts, New York, and Florida. This is a natural client base for us. We can offer products tailored to their needs, such as seamless cross-border transfers to Brazil, loyalty programs connected to Brazilian partners, and culturally aligned financial services.

We acquired a full U.S. commercial banking license for a reason. We want to be present for our clients across their financial lifecycle. If a Brazilian family relocates to the United States, we want to support their children’s banking needs, their real estate purchases, and their business ventures. This is a long-term, structural commitment.

While our primary focus remains on Brazilians and Latin American clients, our platform is open to any customer who values our model. We also maintain a meaningful portfolio of high-yield deposits and other traditional banking products for U.S. residents.

What plans does Bradesco Bank have for digital banking and fintech solutions in the United States beyond traditional services?

Banking has undergone a profound technological transformation. However, the core functions remain payments, lending, risk management, and financial intermediation. Technology enhances these functions but does not replace the need for balance sheet strength and regulatory compliance.

In November of last year, we launched a digital backbone for Bradesco Bank in the United States. Account opening, maintenance, and transactions are now fully digital. Clients can manage their relationship entirely through our app. We have integrated American payment solutions such as Zelle, including for certain non-resident clients, to provide convenience in daily transactions.

On the investment side, we have partnered with a specialized broker-dealer platform tailored to our affluent segment. Clients can access curated investment solutions digitally, supported by recommendations from our internal investment team.

The next step in our digital roadmap is mortgage origination. Given our history in residential lending, we are developing a Brazilian concierge platform that will guide clients through every step of purchasing property in the United States. This includes access to Portuguese-speaking advisors, tax specialists, legal support, and financing solutions. For many foreign buyers, navigating the U.S. system without a Social Security number or established credit history can be complex. Our goal is to simplify that journey.

In Brazil, Bradesco is active in banking-as-a-service and embedded finance. In the United States, our immediate priority is strengthening our core digital banking infrastructure. As we scale our wealth management strategy, additional fintech integrations may follow.

What is your long-term vision for Bradesco Bank’s impact on the U.S. financial landscape and Miami’s role as a global banking hub?

Bradesco’s DNA is built on leadership within defined segments. In Brazil, we are among the top institutions across insurance, asset management, investment banking, retail banking, and corporate banking. In the United States, we are currently a mid-sized institution, but that does not diminish our ambition.

Within our target segments, particularly non-resident clients and Brazilians living in the United States, we aim to become a reference bank. Our objective over the next three to five years is to scale meaningfully, potentially reaching hundreds of thousands of Brazilian clients in the United States. A bank with half a million customers is already a significant institution.

Miami plays a central role in this strategy. The city has evolved into a gateway for Latin America, not only culturally but financially. It offers connectivity, regulatory stability, and proximity to regional markets. For Brazilian entrepreneurs, investors, and families, Miami is often the first point of entry into the U.S. economy.

We do not intend to compete directly with the largest U.S. money center banks for the mass market. Instead, our contribution will be innovation within our niche and a strong relationship-driven model tailored to the Brazilian and Latin American community. We want to be a relationship bank and follow our clients, which means building long-term relationships across deposits, lending, payments, and investments, not just managing portfolios.