By Marion Giraldo

MEXICO CITY Mexican bank Banorte plans to hire between 1,000 and 1,200 more employees to handle operations related to nearshoring, amid an expected boom in activity from global manufactures wishing to relocate their factories, a company executive said on Wednesday.

Speaking at an event, Alejandro Padilla, Banorte's deputy managing director of economic analysis, said that nearshoring was set to "change the foreign trade paradigm" and the bank was ready to adapt.

The latest hiring estimate marks an increase from Banorte's March announcement that it would hire 800 new employees to tap into nearshoring, in which businesses set up shop in Mexico near the U.S. border.

Nearshoring has led more companies to move production closer to buyers in North America and away from Asia following supply-chain constraints prompted by the COVID pandemic.

Banorte projects the trend could generate an additional 30% in exports from Mexico over the next five years, totaling $168 billion.

(Reporting by Marion Giraldo; Writing by Carolina Pulice; Editing by Isabel Woodford and Leslie Adler)