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Swiss bank looking to expand LatAm ops despite regulatory sanction

PKB Privatbank SA is seeking to expand its Latin American operations, despite being fined CHF1.3 million by the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority for breaching money-laundering regulations, finews reported.

The Lugano, Switzerland-based lender confirmed to the newswire that it plans to launch advisory and representative offices in Argentina and Colombia, respectively. It would be the first Swiss bank to re-establish an Argentine presence after lenders from the country left during Argentina's financial crisis around the turn of the century.

Latin American banker Bernardo Brunschwiler, who has been advising PKB Privatbank for six years, said the FINMA sanction and ongoing criminal investigations into the bank's links with Brazilian oil company Petrobras and Brazilian construction group Odebrecht have not hampered the lender's plans. He added that it is under no restrictions on pursuing its growth strategy.

PKB Privatbank is already active in Italy as well as its home country, the report noted. It is also the only Swiss bank to have an office in Panama, where it books the bulk of its CHF1 billion in Latin American AUM.