While Brazil was still in recession at the end of 2016, more hopeful forecasts for the year ahead lifted its banks’ prospects and, with them, capital positions. All bar two of the country’s 43 lenders in The Banker’s Top 200 Latin American Banks ranking showed larger Tier 1 capital figures at the end of 2016 than they did a year earlier. This stands in stark contrast to the end-of-year results in 2015, when, without exception, Brazilian lenders shed capital, often at double-digit rates.
A prime example is Itaú Unibanco, the largest banking group in both Brazil and Latin America. After losing more than one-quarter of its Tier 1 capital in 2015, the bank began to replenish its pot with impressive vigour in 2016. Its 37.33% increase is the largest among Brazil’s top five banks, followed by Santander Brasil’s 27.06%.
