The Brazilian banking battle has begun. After a flurry of merger announcements last month, more acquisitions are expected in the next few months.
For some time, there have been rumours of Banco do Brasil mopping up smaller, regional state-owned banks. There have also been rumours that the big privately owned banks, such as Bradesco and Itaú, would buy some of the mid-tier banks that have been struggling with funding shortages. But few predicted a merger of two top names – Itaú and Unibanco – to create the largest bank in Latin America and biggest non-Chinese bank in the MSCI Emerging Markets index. The renamed Itaú Unibanco Holdings will have about $265 billion in assets.
Bradesco
Questions now linger over Bradesco, which before the Itaú Unibanco deal was Brazil’s biggest private bank and which is not entering...
