SAO PAULO (Reuters) – Japanese credit investor Credit Saison committed on Wednesday to a $100 million investment in Brazil, part of a broader push in Latin America that includes a capital injection of the same size in Mexico.
The firm’s plan is to work with fintechs, intermediaries and other local companies to provide loans to individuals and small and medium-sized companies, according to the chief executive of Saison International, an arm of Credit Saison.
“We want to build a diversified portfolio,” Kosuke Mori said in an interview.
Brazil’s attractiveness lies in the size and robustness of its fintech ecosystem, in addition to a central bank that Mori described as “clear and strong” from a regulatory point of view and “friendly” towards foreign agents.
The executive added that there is no specific schedule for the full investment in Latin America’s largest economy, but that the company intends to expand there at a pace similar to that observed in other markets where it operates.
“Over the next three to five years, let’s say, we’d like to increase that $100 million to $300 million, $500 million,” Mori said.
“That’s what happened in other markets, like India. Five years ago, we entered exactly the same business model, working with fintechs and growing with fintech. Today, we are actually a multi-billion (operation).”
In addition to India, Credit Saison also has a presence in other emerging countries such as Indonesia, Vietnam and Thailand.
(Reporting by Patricia Vilas Boas, Editing by Nick Zieminski)
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