Brazil weathers twin storms to stay in front

摘要

The past two years have seen Brazil's banks endure both a full-blown recession and the widening of a corruption scandal that has reached the very top of the country's business and political worlds. As the Brazilian economy begins to recover, its banks' balance sheets continue to improve, as shown in The Banker's ranking of the leading Latin American and Caribbean banks. Itau Unibanco's figures are particularly impressive. In dollar terms, by the end of 2016 the bank had expanded its Tier 1 capital by more than one-third, the equivalent of $9.67bn. Its strength is visible even when stripping the benefits of a more favourable exchange rate. Expressed in local currency, the year-on-year Tier 1 capital growth is still an impressive 14.79%.