Credit Suisse and the controlling shareholders of modalmais have signed a strategic long-term agreement that allows Credit Suisse to purchase preferred shares equivalent to up to 35% of the total capital of modalmais.

Philipp Wehle, CEO International Wealth Management at Credit Suisse, said:

“This announcement underlines our strong commitment to our Brazilian clients and our growth ambitions for this priority market. This transaction further enhances our ability to serve our clients digitally while getting access to additional client segments in a fast growing environment.”

modalmais will continue to be controlled by its founder, Diniz Ferreira Baptista, and by its principal executives, including co-CEOs Cristiano Ayres and Eduardo Centola.

Diniz Ferreira Baptista, founding partner of modalmais, noted:

“The agreement with Credit Suisse is the greatest stamp of approval that modalmais could achieve at this point in its trajectory. It is an honor to be associated with an institution whose history is intertwined with that of global financial markets. modalmais will continue its growth trajectory. Most importantly: the platform will be able to offer more solutions to its expanding client base with the experience and sophistication of Credit Suisse by its side.”

Both banks have complementary operations. Credit Suisse, one of the leading wealth managers in the world with strong investment banking capabilities, is joining forces with modalmais, a digital bank with an agile and modern platform that has become a leading digital platform in Brazil in less than five years and a reference point in the financial market.

Credit Suisse and modalmais are working together to explore synergies between their investment services and products. The possibilities to be analyzed together are:

• Access by Credit Suisse to the state-of-the-art technology of the modalmais digital platform and all the functions and investment possibilities that a digital bank such as modalmais offers to serve its clients even better, especially those who prefer and have more affinity with fintechs.
• Distribution of a selection of Credit Suisse’s products, such as structured notes, funds, debt transactions and share offerings to modalmais’s base of nearly one million clients.

This article first appeared on fintechnews.ch