The move follows the opening of its first office in Latin America in Santiago, Chile, in 2008, where it has since offered services exclusively to regulated financial organisations.
Colombian, Carlos Felipe Stozitzky, has been appointed as director of the new representative office in Bogotá, having previously been regional manager in Santiago for two years.
His key goal is to boost the commercial activity of Allfunds in the North of Latin America from the new office, the company said.
Before joining Allfunds, he held roles at different local asset managers and banks.
"It is a significant investment but it really pays off as clients value nearness and local support"
Allfunds said the platform already has a number of important clients in the country but was seeking to further capitalise on the growing local interest in international products among pension funds, insurance companies and asset managers.
Luis Ussia, Allfunds Bank regional manager for Iberia & Latam, said: “Providing local servicing is key to be successful across the region. It is a significant investment but it really pays off as clients value nearness and local support. We like to be closer to clients and we try to differentiate ourselves from the rest in that perspective”.
In July, Allfunds Bank hired Simon Shapland as the new head of its office for UK and Ireland. Previously managing director for the UK & Middle East of RBC Investor and Treasury Services, he replaced Stephen Mohan, who left the company earlier in the year.
Allfunds Bank Group was set up in 2000 and owned in equal parts by the Santander and Intesa Sanpaolo groups, with more than $220Bn (€200Bn) assets under administration and offers close to 40,000 funds from 450 fund managers.
It has a local presence in Spain, Italy, UK, Chile, UAE, Switzerland, Colombia and Luxembourg and has more than 450 institutional clients, including major commercial banks, private banks, insurance companies, fund managers, financial supermarkets,international brokers, and specialist firms from 33 different countries.
