By James Attwood and Nathan Gill

     Nov. 24 (Bloomberg) — Banco Santander Chile rose the most in five weeks in Santiago after JPMorgan Chase & Co. recommended owning Chilean banking stocks and the U.S. rescue of Citigroup Inc. eased investor concerns about the global financial system.

     The country’s biggest lender rose 8.8 percent to 20.7 pesos, the steepest advance since Oct. 14.

     Santander Chile rallied along with other Latin American financial stocks after the U.S. government said it will guarantee $306 billion of troubled Citigroup assets and inject $20 billion into the bank. JPMorgan is “overweight” Latin American financials including Chilean banks, strategists wrote in a note to clients today.

     Santander Chile “is well capitalized and has the safest debt in Chile,” Javier Pizarro, an analyst at Larrain Vial SA, said today by phone from Santiago. “It’s the bank we recommend most in the short term.”

     Six out of eight analysts in a Bloomberg survey have “buy” ratings on the Santiago-based lender.