Itau Unibanco, the Brazilian private bank, has entered a partnership with Chile's Munita, Cruzat & Claro​​, which will create a new wealth management company.

The joint venture will focus on wealthy clients in the Chilean market under the name of the local company, which has about manages $2 billion for about 350 clients.

The two parties have not disclosed details about their respective stakes in the enterprise.

"Strengthening our presence in Latin America and especially in Chile is a top priority for growing our business, since it has highly sophisticated and very sound economic prospects for the way forward,” said João Medeiros, director of Itaú Private Bank International.

The latest BofA Merrill Lynch/Capgemini World Wealth Report showed that the high net worth population in Latin America grew 8.3 per cent over the past year. In June, Wealth-X reported that Brazil has about 31 per cent of ultra-wealthy residents in the region and tops the rich list in Latin America. Chile, on the other hand, did not make it into the top five, but was part of the group of smaller economies which outperformed the BRIC countries between 1997 and 2011, State Street Global Advisors reported earlier this year.

The Latin Amercian region is becoming increasingly interesting for the world of wealth management, with some of the West’s biggest hitters, such as Citigroup, JP Morgan, Julius Baer, Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley all ramping up their presence in the market, especially in Brazil, which is the continent’s largest economy. Meanwhile, domestic wealth management players, such as Itaú Private Bank and BTG Pactual, also in Brazil, are actively fighting to hold onto their market share and expand their businesses.