SAO PAULO (Reuters) – Brazilian lender Itau Unibanco reported a better-than-expected 14% increase in second-quarter net profit compared to the same period last year, while also keeping default rates stable, the bank announced in a securities filing on Monday.
Latin America’s biggest private sector lender posted recurring net profit of 8.74 billion reais ($151 million) during the April-to-June period, while analysts polled by Refinitiv expected 8.63 billion reais.
Itau attributed the quarterly performance to higher income from interest it earned on customer debt, as net interest income from clients grew 13.4% to reach 24.9 billion reais.
Return on equity, a gauge for profitability, grew a modest 0.2 percentage points from the previous quarter to settle at 20.9%.
Delinquency, measured by a 90-day default ratio, came in at 3.0%, essentially flat compared to the first quarter.
($1 = 4.8999 reais)
(Reporting by Peter Frontini; Editing by David Alire Garcia)
