Latin America's 50 largest banks by assets, 2023

This article is a part of the worldwide bank ranking series. The world's largest 100 banks, 2023 Europe's largest 50 banks, 2023 Asia-Pacific's 50 largest banks by assets, 2023 The Middle East and Africa's 30 largest banks by assets, 2023 Largest 50 US banks by total assets, Q4'22

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Itaú Unibanco Holding SA retained its position as the largest Latin American bank in S&P Global Market Intelligence's annual rankings, leading an all-Brazilian top five.

The lender grew assets 18.4% to $439.50 billion in 2022, according to Market Intelligence data. It was one of the biggest climbers in the world's top 100 banks by assets, rising 11 places to 73rd.

São Paulo-based Itaú increased net loans to customers by nearly 10% over the course of the year, far outpacing a 2.36% growth for deposits, Market Intelligence data shows. In March 2023, the bank offered to buy the remaining 34.38% stake that it does not already own in Chilean and Colombian subsidiary Itaú Corpbanca.

Following Itaú in the rankings were Banco do Brasil SA, Banco Bradesco SA, Caixa Econômica Federal and Banco Santander (Brasil) SA. This was unchanged from a year earlier.

Brazilian banks are contending with a rapid increase in impairments following an extended credit boom, according to a March banking risk analysis by Market Intelligence. The industry is able to weather the rise in nonperforming loans because existing provisioning is "robust," the report said. Still, lenders may have to put aside more money for losses following the recent bankruptcy of Americanas SA, one of the country's biggest retailers, it said.

About this analysis

For the latest ranking, company assets were adjusted on a best-efforts basis for pending mergers, acquisitions and divestures as well as the M&A deals that closed after the end of the period through March 31. Assets reported by non-US dollar filers were converted to dollars using period-end exchange rates. Total assets were taken on an "as-reported" basis, and no adjustments were made to account for differing accounting standards. The majority of the banks were ranked by total assets as of Dec. 31, 2022. In the previous ranking published April 25, 2022, most company assets were as of Dec. 31, 2021, and were adjusted for pending and completed M&A as of March 31, 2022.

Movers and shakers

The rest of the list's top 10 included three Mexican banks: Grupo Financiero BBVA México SA de CV, Grupo Financiero Banorte SAB de CV and Banco Santander México SA Institución de Banca Múltiple Grupo Financiero Santa. There were also two from Chile: Banco de Crédito e Inversiones and Banco Santander-Chile. The Chilean unit of Banco Santander SA was the only addition to the top 10 this year.

Grupo Aval Acciones y Valores SA dropped out of the top 10 and tumbled eight spots to 16th, the second-biggest decline within the top 50. The Colombian bank spun off Panama-based subsidiary BAC Holding International Corp. in March 2022.

BAC itself joined the rankings at No. 24, making the bank the highest new entrant. It had $32.24 billion of assets as of Dec. 31, 2022, according to Market Intelligence data.

The two other new entrants in the list were Banco Santander Argentina SA at 46th and Brazil-based Banco Daycoval SA at 50th.

Brazil dominates

Twelve Brazilian banks made the top 50 with aggregate assets of about $1.897 trillion.

Mexico had nine lenders, boasting $582.17 billion of assets between them. Chile's six banks had $397.56 billion.