Japanese banks increasing presence in Latin America

Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ has been beefing up its project finance business in Latin America, hiring specialist bankers who speak Spanish and Portuguese to gain better access to projects involving exclusively local parties. Last summer, the bank hired Ralph Scholtz, BNP Paribas’ Latin America project finance managing director, as its region’s project finance team head, as well as a Portuguese-speaking banker from HSBC Holdings. The bank said Latin America is a promising market for project finance, highlighting plans in Mexico to build gas pipelines, and development of copper mines and auxiliary facilities such as power plants in Chile. Read Article