Banorte Poaches JPMorgan’s Chief Mexico Economist Casillas

Gabriel Casillas, formerly chief Mexico economist for JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM), took the job as top economist and head of research at Grupo Financiero Banorte SAB, he said in a phone interview from Mexico City.

Casillas, 36, replaces Alfredo Thorne, who had also worked as JPMorgan’s top economist. Thorne left Banorte last year and founded a consulting firm in Lima, Peru.

Banorte, Mexico’s third-largest bank by outstanding loans, hired Guillermo Ortiz, former governor of Banco de Mexico, as its chairman in 2010. Prior to JPMorgan, Casillas worked at Banco de Mexico as a deputy manager of risk management and as deputy manager of foreign exchange. He was also chief Mexico economist at UBS AG.

Casillas received his doctorate at Texas A&M University in 2004.

To contact the reporter on this story: Nacha Cattan in Mexico City at ncattan@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Joshua Goodman at jgoodman19@bloomberg.net