BCP Global gives Latin America’s middle class access to U.S. investment market
By Joseph A. Mann Jr
Despite economic tumult, Latin America’s middle class currently represents about 33 percent of the region’s total population of more than 655 million people, according to the World Bank. But whereas wealthy Latin Americans have always been able to invest overseas to avoid losing the value of their savings to inflation, de-valuation, and confiscatory taxes, safe overseas investments have not been readily available to a huge portion of the region’s middle-income families.
BCP Global is working to change that. The Miami-based firm has combined financial expertise, easy-to-use technology, and international partnerships to provide U.S. investment options to millions of middle class Latin Americans, from Mexico to Chile, via an all-in-one app. “We spent years gaining an understanding of the laws, regulations, and overall confusion preventing middle class Latin Americans from finding financial freedom,” says Mauricio Armando, CEO and co-founder of BCP Global. “This is a massively under-addressed market.”
Armando established BCP Global in 2017 with two partners, Santiago Maggi, BCP’s COO, and BCP board member Pedro Fernandez de los Muros, both with years of experience in international finance. The idea was to partner with major financial service providers and offer those services to clients via its mobile app.
`BCP (which stands for Blue Capital Partners) partnered with BlackRock, the world’s largest asset manager, to offer investment portfolios; it partnered with Interactive Brokers LLC (IBKR), a U.S.-based securities trading firm that operates on 150 global markets, to carry out trades for its clients; and it partnered with Olé, a continent-wide insurance company, to offer life insurance policies.
This is how BCP works: The ONE APP software the company developed is sold to banks and other financial firms in Latin America, who then offer BCP services to their customers. These customers apply for an account with BCP, download the app, and wire funds to open an account. Each client then receives instructions on how to choose a personally tailored investment portfolio from BlackRock’s huge selection of options; how to buy or sell their own stocks or funds via a simple trading solution; and how to invest in short-term U.S. Treasury Bills. BCP clients can also purchase life insurance through their partner, the Olé group, which can issue a U.S. issue term policy for up to $1 million in less than 48 hours without a medical exam. The client can also receive investment insights from BCP Advisors, with information on investment instruments, risk, volatility, and planning.
“Millions of Latin Americans do not have access to the financial products that American consumers can take advantage of, such as brokerage accounts and IRAs,” says Armando. Most regional financial institutions in Latin America are not equipped with the technology or the knowledge of compliance rules to be able to effectively provide these products to customers, he says. “BCP Global simplifies everything.”
BCP’s B2B partners who offer their services to clients include independent financial advisors, mid-size broker-dealers, and registered investment advisers (RIAs), some of them the largest financial institutions in Latin America. For example, in Colombia, BCP works with Davivienda, Alianza Fiduciaria, and Credicorp. In Mexico, their partners are Monex, GBM, and Banorte. In Brazil, they are signed with Banco Bradesco S.A., Brazil’s second-largest bank and a shareholder in BCP.
“We think it is not only important but crucial for families in these countries to invest some of their savings in U.S. dollars, here in the U.S.,” says Armando. “Financial literacy is also a must. We want our clients to understand how and why they invest with us and compare that with other offerings.” At the end of 2022, BCP had assets of more than $168 million under management.
