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LATEST ARTICLES
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New accounts targeted at low-income customers reflects the reality of intense competition in the sector.
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The Brazilian neobank is growing its number of clients faster than perhaps any financial institution on earth. Combine this with static unit costs and the operational leverage potential is big. CFO Guilherme Lago explains how its business model is now focused on the next five to 10 years as open banking generates unprecedented price transparency, customer portability and opportunity.
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XP has succeeded in Brazil by using its technological efficiencies to win on digital experience and price. But now the incumbents are catching up and XP chief executive Thiago Maffra is focusing on developing service beyond pure online delivery.
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The paradox of Itaú is that it has maintained its leadership of Brazil’s banking sector with an ease and assuredness in recent years that belies the radical and continual transformation going on under the surface. The bank’s CFO, Alexsandro Broedel, tells Euromoney that its management’s only real constant is to view every new player as an existential threat – and react accordingly.
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The leading neobanks in Brazil seem to have hit their stride in terms of profitability just as some of the traditional banks have stumbled. Are these firms the future of Brazilian banking?
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The Brazilian government’s changes to the laws governing its tax-exempt debentures have allayed financial market fears that president Lula intends to rely on BNDES to fund billions spending on infrastructure, crowding out private-sector finance.
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Chief executive Carlos Eduardo Guimarães says that he expects the bank’s return on equity to double to between 20% and 22% in the next two years.
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Banco Inter reported return on equity of 8.5% in the fourth quarter of 2023 but is now targeting a return on equity of 30% by 2028, CFO Santiago Stel tells Euromoney.
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Domestic companies launch banking-as-a-service models as the country's central bank creates space for new entrants.
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A recent rule change means that Brazilian banks will be able to use tax credits related to provision expenses sooner – and the impact could be material.
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Brazil’s banks have been talking a good game about capturing the outperformance of smaller, privately held companies in the country. Now a new banking advisory firm – packed with senior bankers – has made this segment its entire business strategy.
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A team of once-public sector bankers and officials is launching a new private equity fund that aims to identify ‘climate winners’ from the transition to a decarbonized economy. It has identified key industries but its central thesis is regulation.
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BR Partners grew steadily up until its successful IPO in 2021. However, tougher markets since that float have led to a period of relative consolidation. Will 2024 see a resumption of chief executive Ricardo Lacerda’s ambitious empire building?
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The appointment of Marcelo Noronha as chief executive of Bradesco should probably have taken place five years ago. Is he still the right man for the job?
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The bank must broaden its horizons if performance is to improve.
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The sovereign pushed hard on its first use-of-proceeds green bond, but a sustainability-linked bond was not seen as a practical option for now.
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Sector shows strong profit performance in the third quarter as asset quality improves.
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Private banking clients have begun exploring alternative asset allocation strategies in Brazil. Euromoney talks to the founders of a startup that is tapping into this demand with a strategy focused on special situations.
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Digital banks look to online games to help drive retention.
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It is rare that a popular, fast-growing and secure financial product is put at risk, but could the boom in FGTS loans in Brazil be under existential threat?
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Private bankers are eyeing PE and venture capital investments as digital platforms emerge in Brazil, but personal advisory remains critical.
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The Brazilian bank is focused on new initiatives aimed at boosting active-user rates, including a new global app and buy-now-pay-later product.
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Trade and currency wars have boosted Brazil’s agribusiness sector in the past couple of years. Higher prices for soft commodities have, however, accelerated a trend that has been noticeable for many years: the country’s inward focus.
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The evolution of Brazil’s central bank payments programme could be good news for banks.
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UBS’s acquisition of Credit Suisse will further reduce the number of large international private banks in Brazil. Julius Baer has been quick to take advantage of this.
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The country’s banking system seems as solid as ever, but its banks are seeing an uptick in delinquencies that could spin out of control.
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The echoes of 2014 have been loud in Brazil’s private banking industry over the past 12 months. A precipitous fall in interest rates – followed by a meteoric rise – has left the market completely the same but also very different.
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When the news broke that Argentina was thinking of merging its currency with that of its neighbour, Brazil, my immediate question was: which Argentine peso?
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The bank’s chief financial officer says Inter is moving into an expansion phase, following an ambitious and aspirational ‘north star’.
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The bank’s new head must withstand political pressure to extend subsidized credit and lower underwriting standards.
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The region’s advantage is likely to be short-lived and could fade by 2024, according to JPMorgan's private bank head.
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Local flows to fixed income and equity redemptions limit ECM liquidity.
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Proactive risk tightening in 2021 sees surging return on equity as scale brings operational leverage.
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The market reaction to the third-quarter results from Brazil’s second-largest private bank has revealed investor sensitivity to banks’ deteriorating asset quality.
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While fintechs have been thriving in Brazil and throughout Latin America, the region’s local stock exchanges have failed to attract IPOs.
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Brazil’s agribusiness sector is booming on the back of sky-high commodity prices. The public banks that have long financed the sector now face a wave of new private-sector competitors.
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The Brazilian world of digital banks has it all: billionaire unicorns, sub-brands created by the incumbents and completely new disruptors. But one player has been quietly growing under the radar to become the country’s second-largest digital player.
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The new administration is expected to be less receptive to bank privatization as the result boosts ‘Lula portfolio’ stocks.
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If Lula wins in Brazil, he is unlikely to focus on the strength of the private-sector banks because fintechs are doing that for him already.
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While the impact on energy is centre stage, the war in Ukraine is also wreaking havoc on soft commodity prices and trade routes. Trade in agricultural commodities is taking a hit. The pool of banks financing these commodities is already dwindling, while the risks for those that remain are growing.
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In its latest funding round, Brazilian-based Creditas proved that valuations for the stronger fintechs can buck the falling trend seen among the large, publicly listed startups.
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Banco do Brasil’s outstanding second quarter means that scrutiny will intensify at its domestic rival.
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The US bank has reorganized its Latam wealth management business to focus on faster growing countries, but home bias remains a tough instinct to overcome.
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Will higher rates today come at the price of more pain tomorrow?
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Campaigning for October’s presidential election has yet to officially start in Brazil, but it is expected to be bitter – and the risks of political fall out for Brazilian banks have already become all too clear.
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Latin America’s corporates are embracing sustainable local debt financing with enthusiasm. The region’s bankers are betting that it’s going to be as good for bookrunner fees as it promises to be for the environment.
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Eric Cardozo, co-founding partner, COO and CFO of Brazilian private banking boutique WHG, talks to Euromoney about quitting a mainstream firm in 2020 and why more private bankers in the country seem to be following suit.
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The pressure for a short-term boost to ROE might force Bradesco to re-evaluate its insurance portfolio.
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Plans to incentivize foreign capital aim to boost capacity, with a new internal ‘investment bank’ to drive growing pipeline.
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A combination of geographical position and commodity strength is working in the country’s favour.
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The rule change will be phased in, but shares in publicly listed fintechs dip.
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After the 2020 sale of its US bank, BBVA’s global ambitions in retail are alive and well. It has entered Brazil with digital bank Neon, ploughed more capital into UK app-based lender Atom Bank and launched in Italy in a way that presages branchless growth across the eurozone.
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Beny Podlubny, head of XP Private, talks to Euromoney about the metaverse, risk appetite, international expansion and why Brazilian clients like to keep things close to home.
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It took all of six days of the new year before the tone was set: XP Inc’s announcement of its acquisition of Banco Modal. The deal will need regulatory approval, but is being warmly endorsed by the target’s management and its minority shareholder, Credit Suisse.
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German lender renews focus on LatAm after 2015 withdrawal.
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The momentum behind the loss-making bank’s IPO had become unstoppable by year-end, even as the range was eventually cut. It now faces intense scrutiny as a public firm.
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The CEO and CFO aren’t about to abandon the physical in the chase for digital business.
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The recent appearance of a golden bull outside the São Paulo's B3 stock exchange was something of a red rag to the city’s populace.
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Banco Pan’s turnaround has taken another step forward with its acquisition of ecommerce platform Mosaico. Chief executive Carlos Eduardo Guimarães talks to Euromoney about the importance of growth with profitability.
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Ricardo Lacerda launched a boutique investment bank in the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis. Having finally succeeded in IPOing his firm at the third attempt, he now looks to navigate it through Brazil’s turbulent waters.
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The world has been pressuring Brazil about the deforestation of the Amazon rainforest within its borders for decades. New ESG-style initiatives are being adopted by Brazilian banks and businesses, but it could be the climate impact closer to home that’s creating the impetus for real change.
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Gustavo Montezano has been president of BNDES since July 2019. He is on a mission to get Brazil’s state development bank to adapt to the new financial reality of ESG. How the resultant tensions play out will be crucial to the development of Brazil and the world.
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Brazil’s central bank attempts to redress the country’s woeful environmental reputation with climate-related stress tests.
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Bank CEOs do not like it, but the regulators are fostering competition.
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Private sector investment led to a Q1 GDP surge, with drought and energy shortages the main threat to economic revival.
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Payments company prices above range as it shrugs off regional valuation constraints on Nasdaq debut.
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Founder and former chief executive Guilherme Benchimol was keen to stress the mould-breaking attributes of his chosen successor as he passed the reins of XP Inc to Thiago Maffra in May.
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The Swiss bank’s move onshore comes as other foreign players are leaving.
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In recent years, Brazil has endured famine, flood and pestilence. What’s next?
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The cost advantages for some fintechs will become compromised as they begin to build physical operations. Euromoney speaks to Sergio Furio, CEO of Brazilian secured lender Creditas, about moving into the real world.
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State-owned Caixa Economica cashes out of its Pan investment with R$2 billion profit.
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Bankers sign up to open letter decrying the government’s handling of the crisis.
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Liquidity events rather than asset migration drive market share gains.
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The country’s president has responded to falling approval ratings and the threat of a trucker strike by raising bank taxes.
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The country’s banks have become accustomed to the disruption caused by the new challengers, but XP Bank could take this to a whole new level.
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Milton Maluhy officially became Itaú’s new CEO at the beginning of February. He now faces the challenge of cutting the bank down to size.
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The bank's management is confident that pandemic losses will be contained.
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Emerging markets have regained some of the buoyancy lost during the early months of the coronavirus crisis, but analyst opinions hint at the difficulty of identifying which EM currencies investors should favour.
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Brazil should be well placed to benefit from renewed interest in forestry projects, but the country’s restrictive land laws could lead foreign investment to flow elsewhere.
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Brazil's Nubank is the world’s most valuable fintech in the digital banking space – now worth over $25 billion. In his first interview this year, chief executive and co-founder David Velez explains why he’s in no rush to IPO and why he would rather focus on the huge opportunity left in Brazil and elsewhere in the region.
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The position of CEO Andre Brandao – and his plan to rationalize the bank's cost base – are both surrounded in doubt.
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Daniel Darahem has returned from Asia to take the reins of JPMorgan’s Brazilian business. He predicts that the coming decade will witness transformation at a speed never seen before for both the bank and the country.
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Brazil’s fintechs and digital challenger banks are making more ground than traditional firms with the central bank’s new payments system.
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Brazil’s richest man leaves behind privately held banking empire. Antagonism between sons could lead to a power struggle
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Itaú Unibanco continues to outperform its peers in Brazilian banking, but its traditional competitors aren’t the real problem.
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Is a slew of pulled deals really a sign of a healthy IPO market?
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UBS’s strategy of creating emerging markets growth through partnerships is writ large in its joint venture with Banco do Brasil. Can the new entity become more than the sum of its parts?
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Brazil’s central bank launches a free instant-payments tool.
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Banco Inter’s chief executive João Vitor Menin is a banking revolutionary. His vision of the bank’s future is a super app, supporting both e-commerce and financial services. He is refreshingly fearless about upsetting the established order.
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The BRICS economies, which between them represent 40% of the world population and 32% of its GDP, are a powerful force for the private banking industry as their economic engines drive wealth creation. But they are all distinct markets with their own unique opportunities and challenges.
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The former president of Brazil’s central bank spent six months cooling off before joining Credit Suisse.
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In stark contrast to previous periods of crisis, Brazil’s private-sector banks have been growing market share this year as the public banks have retrenched. This should translate to a busy deal pipeline as they look to refinance.
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Credit Suisse has hired several big guns in the battle for the banking market in Brazil. Chief among them is Ilan Goldfajn, ex president of the central bank of Brazil.
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Brazil’s largest fintech has 5% market share and now poses strategic challenge to market leaders.
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Nubank’s acquisition of Easynvest this month is just one example of how the financial market in Brazil is developing at a dizzying speed.
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Brazilian bank set to take in US firm’s domestic bankers and clients.
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The penny is finally dropping – and bankers in Brazil appear to be taking deforestation in the Amazon seriously.
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The markets have been very relaxed about emerging markets adopting quantitative easing – and that, in itself, could become a problem.
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The awkward truce in Brazil between XP Inc and Itaú broke down in a very public way in June.
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Social distancing and government payments are turbo-charging digital bank’s growth.
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Collapse in Brazilian equities places a question mark over recent growth in retail investment.
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The bank reports record profits, loan growth and no advance provisioning while Bradesco and Itaú focus on risks ahead.
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When corporates needed access to credit as the Covid-19 crisis ravaged Brazil’s markets, the big banks baulked or raised their costs dramatically. Is this the price of such a consolidated market, one that also provides much-needed stability in times of turmoil?
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Risk that high leverage in global corporates could spark 'new global financial crisis'.
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Previous crises led to consolidated, profitable sector that should be able to weather coming storm.
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It might be too much to say the country was bouncing back before Covid-19 struck, but it was beginning to look a bit better. Not now though.
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The economic fallout from the virus is beginning to impact regional currencies and growth forecasts.
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Brazil’s changing macroeconomic environment is shaking up the investment industry – and there has been no bigger winner than XP Inc. In his first post-IPO interview with the international media, CEO Guilherme Benchimol explains the firm’s competitive edge over banks.
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The gravitational pull of Latin America on Santander has resulted in the move to appoint Santander Brasil CEO Sergio Rial to the bank’s board as executive director.
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XP has been outperforming even its most optimistic analysts’ projections in recent quarters.
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It has made waves with an IPO and by building a strong retail banking platform. Less well known is how the firm is gatecrashing the country’s thriving wealth management industry.
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With Santander Brasil registering record profits and Santander Mexico promising the same, the outlook for the group looks Latin. As its European business stalls, how will the bank be affected by Latin America’s shift from engine of growth to core business?
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Report says they must cut costs by 10%; years of 20%+ ROE are coming to an end.
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The process of financial digitalization has been a challenge for journalists covering Brazil’s banking sector.
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If Brazil does well, Bradesco does well. Its management is confident there are good times ahead.
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The bank may be at the peak of its value creation, as the government looks to promote greater competition in Brazilian banking.