Banco Azteca, controlled by Mexican billionaire Ricardo Salinas, says the financial crisis offers the bank a chance to enter the U.S. market and lure Hispanic customers.
The bank is considering bringing its core products -- money transfers, loans of less than $300 and life insurance for $4 a week -- to California, Salinas said in an interview yesterday in San Diego. Hispanics make up a third of the state’s population of about 37 million, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
“With the credit crunch there is tremendous opportunity,” Salinas said. “Our bank is very stable. We can afford to poke our nose around.”
Azteca is Mexico’s 10th-largest bank in terms of lending, with 23.2 billion pesos ($1.76 billion) in its credit portfolio at the end of March, according to government statistics. The company, a unit of Salinas’s Grupo Elektra SA, operates in seven other countries, including Brazil, Peru and Honduras. READ FULL STORY
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