After building its operation around access to international investments for Brazilians, Avenue is preparing a new stage of expansion. The platform wants to broaden the range of services offered to clients and advance into offshore banking products, starting with the launch of a credit card issued in the United States.
The strategy was detailed by Roberto Lee, founder of Avenue, in a conversation with Funds Society Brasil. According to the executive, the company—which has Itaú as its majority partner—perceived that the financial internationalization of Brazilian families is no longer limited to investment diversification and has begun to encompass broader aspects of daily life.
“What we actually discovered is that it doesn’t end there. Brazilian families connecting to the outside world start with investments, but expand their journey into a life journey,” says Lee.
In the Avenue founder’s assessment, this movement appears mainly on three fronts: international education, real estate acquisition, and Brazilians working or receiving income from abroad.
“We have seen in our client base, but also around us, across the entire market, incredible growth in family planning for international education,” he said. “It is a massive journey of Brazilians starting to own real estate abroad. Their first properties, and it is no longer something reserved for very wealthy families. It has already penetrated the high-income segment.”
This shift helps explain Avenue’s next step. If the company’s first phase was concentrated on connecting the Brazilian investor to the international market, the intention now is to accompany the client in other financial needs that arise outside the country as well.
“Our goal is to make a vision we have a reality: to make it as natural for Brazilians to use banking services abroad as they do in Brazil,” he says.
For Lee, a gap exists precisely in this process. While investors in Brazil already find institutions and professionals capable of helping them build an international portfolio, other needs related to living abroad still require families to navigate much of the path on their own.
“They are already connected to the Brazilian system, but across all these other journeys, they become invisible to the Brazilian system. And they have to walk that path alone,” he states.
U.S. Credit Card Still in 2026
One of the first products of this new phase is expected to be Avenue’s credit card. Lee stated that the expectation is to start issuing the first cards to clients later this year.
“It will be an Avenue card. I hope that this year we will begin issuing the first credit cards to our clients.”
According to the executive, the card will be issued and settled in the United States. “It is an American card, operated by a Brazilian company,” he summarizes.
The ambition, however, does not stop at the card. Asked about the possibility of Avenue offering Brazilians access to loans in the U.S. market in the future, Lee said that this is one of the paths the company intends to pursue.
“That is where we are working toward. We are still far, but that is our goal.”
The strategy does not mean, in the executive’s view, simply transforming Avenue into a bank. For Lee, a banking license is only one piece of the infrastructure needed to build a broader service offering abroad.
“A bank is basically a license. I think it’s not about that,” he stated. In this context, the founder highlights the structure of Itaú, Avenue’s controlling shareholder. According to Lee, the group’s presence in different jurisdictions gives the platform access to core structures for this operation.
“It is obvious that we enjoy the privilege of having a controlling majority partner that is Itaú, which manages to have very sophisticated, deeply rooted licenses with human, regulatory, and infrastructure capital in several jurisdictions, including the United States,” says the CEO, noting also that the parent company recently received preliminary authorization to establish a nationally chartered bank in the United States.
Real Estate, Education, Insurance, and Credit
Avenue also sees opportunities in services associated with real estate purchases, international education, and insurance.
Lee’s proposal is that part of this service can continue to be provided directly from Brazil, even when the financial product or service is abroad.
“Our vision is that whoever helps you, just like whoever helps you invest abroad today, will be here in Brazil. Those who will help you get a mortgage, student financing, or insurance for the property you bought abroad will be Brazilian professionals.”
According to him, this involves building an ecosystem that extends beyond Avenue’s own boundaries. The executive cites, for instance, Brazilian real estate agencies expanding their international presence and educational institutions preparing students for foreign universities.
Avenue aims to act as a catalyst for this movement.
“We try to be the catalyst and leadership agent in this,” Lee said. “The leader isn’t just who is the biggest, who makes the most money, or who serves the most clients. The leader is the one who paves the way.”
For the executive, the trend that turned international investing from a product restricted to wealthy families into a broader movement is now appearing in other dimensions of cross-border wealth management.
Lee points to the real estate market as an example. “Brazilians are the third largest buyers of real estate in Florida. The average ticket size keeps dropping. It is no longer reserved for very wealthy families, just as investing abroad is no longer reserved for very wealthy families.”
