Scott said it is envisioned as the first of a number of offices planned there, and for which he is seeking to recruit experienced advisers, ideally with some experience of the country. Although there are a number of multi-national companies with major outposts in Chile, including Unilever, local clients account for many of Swim’s clients, according to Scott.
The Santiago office is being headed up by Victor Ossario, a Chilean who previously had his own advisory business there, Scott said. The office currently has a team of six advisers, who came to Swim with Ossario.
Scott said Ossario decided to join forces with Swim in order to benefit from its wider range of product choices, network of other offices across South America, its service and training infrastructures and economies of scale.
In Santiago, the office is located in the city’s World Trade Center, in the city’s downtown area, near the Radisson Plaza Santiago hotel. It is not far from a large American Embassy complex, although Swim currently does not handle American clients.
Swim’s head office is in Montevideo, Uruguay, and it also maintains a major office in Sao Paolo. Including Santiago, it has four others in South America: in Rio de Janeiro, Buenos Aires and Punta del Este, Uruguay.
In total Swim employs around 60, with plans to grow to more than 75 by year end, according to Scott.
In addition to looking to expand in Chile, Swim is also planning to open an office this year in Miami – mainly to service existing clients in that part of the US, but also to develop business in Peru, Equador, Mexico and Venezuela, using Miami as a service platform, Scott said.
For this reason, the company is also looking to recruit experienced advisers for these regions, he added.
