Payments provider and FX hedging specialist Ebury has announced plans to accelerate its expansion in Latin America, with the company broadening its offering in Brazil and eyeing new markets in the region.

Ebury opened an office in São Paulo last May, its first in the Latin America region, as part of a planned expansion following the buy-out of a majority stake in the company by Santander in 2019.

GTR understands the firm’s initial focus has been on growing business with importers and exporters in the Brazilian market, through foreign exchange and other corporate banking services.

For instance, Ebury enables European SMEs to send and repatriate funds from Brazil, and also provides them with foreign exchange protection facilities to hedge against the volatile FX market.

But the company says it is now looking to expand its product range in Brazil, while also exploring the possibility of widening its reach into new countries.

“After a successful entrance into the market, Ebury now plans to further develop its global transaction banking platform for the Latin America market and expand its range of services to better serve companies dealing in this region to meet client demand,” Ebury says in a statement.

GTR understands Ebury is starting to onboard merchants such as e-sellers, to grow its cross-border e-commerce business, and is also weighing up the possibility of bringing hedging products to Brazilian customers.

While Brazil has been the priority country to date, Ebury is also looking to enter new markets across Latin America, with Mexico lined up as the likely next destination for a new office.

“We are excited to accelerate the expansion of our operations in Brazil and the wider Latin America region,” says Tom Davies, UK country manager at Ebury.

Ebury’s growing involvement in the region comes a little over two years since Santander spent US$350mn to acquire a majority stake in the alternative financier, becoming a 50.1% shareholder in the process. At the time, it was reported that US$70mn of the investment would be spent on supporting Ebury’s plans to enter new markets in Latin America and Asia.