Brazil's largest private bank posts record profit in first quarter

Brazilian bank Itau Unibanco, the largest private financial institution in the South American country, said Tuesday that it earned in the first quarter net profit of 3.200 billion reais (1.840 billion dollars), 60.5 percent up year-on-year.

The result represents, according to the consulting agency Economatica, record profits for all Brazilian banks in the period.

The loan portfolio of Itau Unibanco reached 284.7 billion reais at the end of March, with growth of 4.4 percent in 12 months.

Excluding extraordinary effects on the result, the net profit of the institution rose 23.7 percent compared to the first quarter of 2009.

The institution ended March with total assets of 634.7 billion reais (364.77 billion dollars), a real growth of 1.6 percent in relation to March last year.

Itau Unibanco is the product of the merger in November 2008 between two of the largest private banks in Brazil, a conglomerate with a market value placed among the 20 largest in the world.

Source:Xinhua