Banking was not easy in 2020, particularly in markets traditionally characterised by volatile growth. For example, Latin America’s largest country, Brazil, had yet to recover from the corruption scandal that sunk its economy five years earlier when the Covid-19 pandemic struck.
The country’s four big banks — which are also Latin America’s largest — are solid enough to absorb economic shocks. Still, their profitability took a hit and while keeping in the black, pre-tax profits at Itaú Unibanco, Banco do Brasil, Banco Bradesco and Caixa Econômica Federal shrunk by double digits — up to 87% for Itaú, which also ended the year with a worsened capital-to-assets ratio.
