Eduardo Tobón: The leader behind BMO’s strategy for Latino businesses

Negocios Now

As the Latino Segment Head at BMO, Eduardo Tobón is charged with growing the bank’s business in the U.S. with Latino-owned and-led companies, their owners, and employees. We sat down with him at L’ATTITUDE in San Diego and asked him some questions.

Negocios Now: What is the importance of the Latino segment for a bank?

ET: The answer to that question is both crucial and simple. If a U.S. bank does not have a Latino strategy, it doesn’t have a long-term and sustainable growth strategy.

At BMO, we are fueled by our purpose to Grow the Good in business and life Boldly. According to the most recent report by the Latino Donor Collaborative, the U.S. Latino GDP is a gold mine, and our country is fully benefiting from it. As a bank that serves four million clients in the U.S. and is the fourth largest Commercial Bank in North America, we’re fully committed to bringing relevant solutions and capital to this key segment, including their companies, their leaders, and their employees.

Negocios Now: What can you share about your strategy?

ET: We can share that under our BMO EMpower initiative,  our bank has provided access to capital in the billions to Black and Brown communities in the U.S., and we have a current commitment of more than $40 billion. Many of our Latino clients have benefited from this BMO platform and will continue to do so. Additionally, we have been meeting with some of the largest Latino-owned companies for the past two years and celebrating their achievements.

In many instances, they discover all the solutions and expertise that BMO has, and we gain significant business traction as a result. Most people don’t realize that the top 500 Latino-owned companies, representing less than 0.01% of the 5.1 million Latino-owned businesses, generate more than $134 billion in annual revenue combined and employ approximately 450,000 people. That’s just the tip of the iceberg.

DATA

Demographics and data can be powerful:

• The U.S. Latino GDP and its growth represent one of the largest opportunities for any company CEO. Here are some key figures:
• USD$3.6 trillion in GDP and USD$3.8 trillion in purchasing power (2022)
• Latinas contribute directly with 41% or USD$1.3 trillion in GDP (2021)
• The U.S. Latino GDP, which is part of the U.S. economy, is larger than most countries GDP (except for Germany, Japan, and China) while growing faster (except for just China)
• California and Texas (highest GDP per state) are majority Latino (2023)
• Latino-owned businesses, which account for 50% of net new small businesses (2022) and are estimated to be over 5 million in the U.S., represent a significant potential for the future of the U.S. economy