MEXICO CITY, May 9 (Reuters) -

Mexican lender Bankaool expects to debut on the U.S. stock

market by early 2026, a top executive said, as parent company

Grupo OMNi looks to raise money to fund the lender's growth.

Bankaool, a small lender which currently holds some 0.1% of

the country's financial assets, has focused on its

business-to-business segment but is now betting on rapid growth

from consumer borrowers through a mobile application.

Moises Chaves, the lender's deputy chief executive, told

Reuters the company hoped the debut would "continue

strengthening the bank's scale and operations."

Bankaool, based in the northern state of Chihuahua, expects

to finish 2024 with two million digital platform users on the

app it launched last November, up from the 75,000 it currently

has. It also hopes to add new branches throughout the country.

"If we do our job well with the app, no one will have to

enter the branches, but we do not want to lose that capacity and

we want roots in all areas," Chaves said. The bank currently

counts 22 branches in Chihuahua and one in Mexico City.

The bank is also in the process of buying a U.S. lender in

order to lend to U.S. companies planning to build manufacturing

capacity in Mexico and to serve Mexicans living abroad who are

sending increasing amounts of money back to their home country.

Chaves did not give further information on the deal, but

said the company planned to continue to "follow the migrant

route."

"If the data shows us that after Mexico, the most important

market for remittances is El Salvador, then we would open

operations there, by acquiring a bank and so on," he said.

Bankaool was acquired last year by Grupo OMNi, a

U.S.-registered tech firm of Costa Rican origin. The company has

invested around $138 million in boosting Bankaool's finances and

digital capacity.