As the Opportunity Zones initiative continues to bring much-needed economic dollars to distressed areas across the U.S. during the COVID pandemic, there is substantial capital looking for investment opportunities that could help the initiative grow.

During our “Insider Insights Series: Navigating a New Era in Opportunity Zones” webinar this past June, we spoke with Emilio Miguel, Regional Head of Americas for JTC Group, a publicly traded company that acquired NES Financial in April. Emilio shared with us valuable insights about the growing interest from Family Offices and Multi-Family Offices that represent HNW and UHNW Latin American investors wanting to invest in America’s real estate and see Opportunity Zones as a real opportunity.

JTC Company has 23 locations worldwide and through its Private Client Services provide a comprehensive range of services delivered from key onshore and offshore jurisdictions to high and ultra-high net worth individuals, families and entrepreneurs across the globe.

 

“I work with Latin American families, which include Mexicans, Brazilians, Argentinians, Chileans, etc. And basically, when you sit down with a family or the family advisors, they want JTC to address basic needs because they see the U.S. as a secure place to invest, especially since their regions have been subject to a lot of political changes and economic downfalls,” said Emilio, who was originally a lawyer from Argentina and has a Masters is Law degree from Duke University.

“Typically, Latin American families have invested one way or the other in the U.S. by having bank accounts, investment accounts, by buying real estate or by having all kinds of participation in American economy. Shifting wealth from the home country to the U.S. is one of the first things that wealthy families do in the Region. I think that applies to everywhere else in the world, maybe except Europe.

Once they have accumulated a significant amount of wealth outside their home country, they start to think about how to plan for succession of that and how to make those assets or the investment of those assets more tax efficient. This is why the Opportunity Zones initiative is a very attractive opportunity for them.

Also, from an investment perspective, there is a generational change. Young people, way more than our generation and past generations, look at investing responsibly and investing with social impact. We want to make sure we offer all our clients in Latin America or all over the world for that matter an opportunity to invest in impact funds, which offer more than just a return on capital.

NES Financial and JTC are very well positioned to be able to offer solutions and investment channels in the Opportunity Zones.”

Learn more about JTC Americas, Formerly NES Financial’s Opportunity Zone Fund Administration Solution or attend our Upcoming webinar on September 9th titled “Insider Insights Series: Opportunity Zones and Impact Investing” – Register Today!