Brazil’s Itau Unibanco first-quarter net profit up 14.6%

SAO PAULO (Reuters) – Itau Unibanco Holding SA, Brazil’s biggest private bank, reported first-quarter recurring net profit of 8.435 billion reais ($1.7 billion) on Monday, a 14.6% year-on-year rise despite higher provisions for bad loans.

The recurring net income figure, which excludes one-off items, was broadly in line with expectations of 8.42 billion reais in a Refinitiv poll of analysts.

Itau said in a securities filing the result was driven by the “positive effect” of a higher loan portfolio, which coupled with a “gradual change in the mix to loans with better spreads” led to a 20% rise in its financial margin with clients.

The bank’s consolidated loan book totaled 1.153 trillion reais in the quarter, up 10.4% from the previous year.

Loan-loss provisions hit 9.0 billion reais, up 28.7% from a year ago but decelerating from the 9.90 billion set aside in the previous quarter, when it was hurt by extra provisions related to the bankruptcy of retailer Americanas SA and said cost of credit would likely increase in 2023 from 2022.

Itau’s return on average equity, a widely followed gauge of profitability, reached 20.7% in the first quarter, up from 20.4% a year ago.

($1 = 4.9528 reais)