Latin America 100: The region's biggest banks

September 01, 1998

Brazilian banks continue to dominate our annual ranking of Latin America's biggest banks. But some smaller institutions top the ranking by capital, assets and profit growth, while Banespa has by far the highest return on equity. Data for the Latin 100 is supplied by Fitch IBCA.

98	97	*Bank*	*Country*	*Fiscal period*	*Shareholder equity ($m)*	*Equity growth (%)*	*Total assets ($m)*	*Asset growth (%)*	*Net income ($m)*	*Income growth (%)*	*ROAE (%)*	*$ rate differential*
1	1	Banco Bradesco	Brazil	1997	5,479	9.32	55,286	59.22	783	3.12	14.92	7.41
2	2	Banco do Brasil	Brazil	1997	5,377	7.35	97,560	31.81	514	-107.62	9.90	7.41
3	4	Banco Itaú	Brazil	1997	3,971	10.27	41,553	44.66	641	18.80	16.92	7.41
4	-	Banco do Estado de São Paulo (Banespa)	Brazil	1997	3,521	60.99	52,310	-7.00	1,825	59.93	63.96	7.41
5	6	Banco Nacional de Mexico (Banamex)	Mexico	1997	2,896	-	35,602	-	254	-	-	0.00