SAO PAULO, June 5 (Reuters) - SoftBank-backed

Brazilian online lender Inter & Co is hoping to

replicate its home market success in the United States, where it

is targeting visitors from Latin America's largest country in

two of Florida's biggest cities, the firm's chief executive

said.

Inter has quickly become one of the top fintech players in

Brazil's booming online banking scene, gaining 32 million

clients drawn by a wide menu of products such as credit cards,

mortgages and investments through its smartphone app.

But Inter must overcome the hurdles of building its presence

from the ground up in the United States, where fintechs have

struggled to make inroads against established banks.

Inter launched its U.S. operations with a headquarters in

Miami in 2021 and in May expanded its physical presence with a

"lounge" for clients in Orlando, also a hotspot for Brazilian

migrants and tourists.

"Orlando is the most Brazilian city outside of Brazil,"

Chief Executive Joao Vitor Menin told Reuters on Tuesday, saying

Inter would first target Brazilians traveling to or living in

the United States, then expanding to other American clients who

want to hold a U.S. dollar account, or what Inter calls a global

account.

Earlier this year, Inter bought the naming rights to

Orlando's soccer stadium, where a number of Brazilians,

including Marta - considered the best female footballer of all

time - play.

Inter has 3.1 million clients for its global accounts, most

based in Brazil, with "a little more" than 250,000 in the United

States, Menin said.

"When we think about this global account concept, we should

be in the U.S., because it's all about the U.S. economy," Menin

said.

Menin said the U.S. market represented "an opportunity, not

a challenge" for the company, and said the quality of an Inter

account would set it apart from competitors. Clients happy with

their experience will then share it via word of mouth, Menin

said.

"The U.S. expansion is a very asset-light operation," Menin

said. "We're spending most of our time, most of our cash, most

of our team on developing the right product," he added,

referring to the global account and the Inter smartphone

application.

Inter, in which Japanese technology investor SoftBank Group

has a nearly 15% stake, has previously targeted 60 million total

clients by the end of 2027.

If the current growth rate holds up, some 6 million clients

would likely also hold global accounts, Menin estimated, adding

that the firm had weighed adding the option to trade in European

markets and currencies in the future.

The company has also targeted a 30% return on equity and a

30% efficiency ratio by 2027. Those goals are now "way more

feasible" than when first laid out in 2023, Menin said, after

profits have surged over the past year.

In the first quarter, Inter's net profit leaped more than

eight-fold from the previous year on cost-cutting measures,

sending its shares to a record high in May.

The second quarter will "most likely also be very good,"

Menin said.