(Bloomberg) -- Inter & Co. named Alexandre Riccio the digital bank’s Brazil head with current Chief Executive Officer Joao Vitor Menin focusing on the group’s global expansion.
Riccio, who has been at the Brazilian bank for more than 10 years and was most recently senior vice president based in Belo Horizonte, will formally take over the local operations, according to a regulatory filing. Menin will continue to hold the global CEO role to oversee Inter’s operations abroad from his base in Miami.
“It’s hard to find someone with his pedigree, which is merging the banking and technology parts of the business,” Menin said in a joint interview alongside Riccio. “With him in this chair, we can boost our growth plans.”
Inter, which ended the first quarter with almost 32 million clients, has been spreading its brand awareness inside and outside Brazil. It paid for the naming rights of a soccer stadium in Orlando and has billboards promoting its “super app” for banking and retail in Miami. While it’s mostly targeting the Brazilian diaspora that frequently visits or lives in Florida, it’s also looking to lure other Latin American and US consumers.
The bank has targeted 2027 to reach 60 million clients and an efficiency ratio and return on equity of 30% each. In the most recent quarter, it recorded an efficiency ratio of 47.7% and an ROE of 9.7%.
Inter’s app allows Brazilians to have US dollar accounts, make investments abroad and shop for everything from retail goods to insurance plans.
Riccio, 43, is an engineer by training and spent time at the Boston Consulting Group and steelmaker Gerdau SA earlier in his career. Menin has run the firm for the past 20 years, though he pivoted to convert it into a digital bank about a decade ago. His family is the main shareholder with a stake of nearly 27%. SoftBank Group Corp. owns 15% of the shares.
Inter’s shares listed on the Nasdaq have jumped about 90% in the past year to $6.25 apiece with a market capitalization of $2.7 billion.
“I’m here to oversee an even more intense drive to deliver results,” Riccio said. “And I’ll give Joao more freedom to keep focusing on innovation.”
(Updates with details of Inter offerings in sixth paragraph. A previous version of this story was corrected to remove a reference to Menin taking a new role.)
©2024 Bloomberg L.P.