Brazilian digital bank C6, owned by JPMorgan Chase, posts first quarter profit as income rises and loan losses fall

The Brazilian digital bank C6, owned by JPMorgan Chase JPM In support, a profit was posted for the first time in the first quarter as income rose and loan losses fell.

C6 reported a profit in the first quarter of 461 million real (and $90 million), compared to a loss of $57.3 million in the same period last year. Brazil’s digital bank, which has around 30 million customers, posted a loss of $131.23 million last year.

The bank was able to reduce losses by switching to less risky loans such as payday or car loans, C6 founder Marcelo Kalim said in an interview with Reuters on Monday, as well as increasing the volume of loans.

“The percentage of secured loans in the portfolio is now close to 80%,” he said.

JPMorgan has a 46% stake in C6 and has not yet decided whether to increase its interest (link), Chief Operating Officer Daniel Pinto said last year.

In an interview on Monday, Sanoke Viswanathan, Head of international consumer banking at JPMorgan, said that the bank is already a strong partner with C6 management and works closely with founder Kalim.

Apart from C6, JPMorgan currently only operates one digital bank in the UK but is exploring expansion into other European countries, Viswanathan said. He said Brazil is the third largest market in the world for retail banking in terms of revenue.

C6 plans to focus on Brazil in the medium term and has no plans to expand to other Latin American countries like some of its competitors.

“There is a huge opportunity in Brazil and expanding to other countries in the region would be an attraction,” said Viswanathan.

Kalim said that the bank is also trying to increase the number of accounts at small and medium businesses, a group that C6 has targeted in the last six months.

(1 Dollar = 5.1131 Reais)