Pactual a springboard for Latam expansion: UBS

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Swiss-based bank UBS plans to use Brazilian investment bank Banco Pactual, which it acquired in May for about $2.5 billion, as a springboard for expansion in Latin America, a senior UBS executive said on Wednesday

Huw Jenkins, chief executive of UBS Investment Bank, said the Brazilian economy was very well positioned and that UBS viewed Mexico as a country with opportunities for his firm.

Jenkins was speaking at the Reuters Investment Banking Summit in New York.

Jenkins said the first task for UBS was to integrate Pactual. "Thereafter we start to look at what else we can do in the region," Jenkins said.

Banco Pactual gives UBS a bigger platform to underwrite stock and bond issues in Latin America's largest economy.

UBS has made several acquisitions this year to bolster its wealth-management interests in the United States and in emerging markets.

UBS (UBSN.VX: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) won preliminary approval last year to invest $200 million in state-owned Beijing Securities in return for a 20 percent stake and management control of the business.