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Brazil's major banks remain the largest in Latin America and the Caribbean, the latest regional bank rankings of S&P Global Market Intelligence shows.
Itaú Unibanco Holding SA, Banco do Brasil SA, Banco Bradesco SA, Caixa Econômica Federal and Banco Santander (Brasil) SA again took the top five spots in this year's list. Together, they hold combined assets of $1.613 trillion, down from $1.787 trillion last year. Itaú Unibanco continued to be the region's biggest bank, with assets of $401.10 billion, followed by the state-controlled Banco do Brasil with $360.73 billion in assets.
Banco Bradesco, meanwhile, edged out state-owned Caixa Econômica Federal to take the No. 3 spot this year.
In this ranking, company total assets were adjusted for pending mergers, acquisitions and divestitures, as well as M&A deals that closed after the end of the reporting period through March 31 on a best-efforts basis. Assets reported by banks filing in native currencies have been converted to U.S. dollars using period-end exchange rates. The majority of banks were ranked by total assets as of Dec. 31, 2018. In the previous ranking published April 18, 2018, most company assets were as of Dec. 31, 2017, and were adjusted for pending and completed M&A as of March 31, 2018.
Currency depreciation was a factor in numerous banks' rankings for this year. Some major currencies in the region fell by more than 10% against the U.S. dollar in 2018, while the Argentine peso lost more than half of its value.
Amid the decline, Argentina's Grupo Financiero Galicia SA and Banco Santander Río SA each slipped by six spots on the ranking, the most of any bank on the list. While the two Argentine lenders grew assets substantially in the local currency, they fell when converted to U.S. dollars.
Overall, just four Argentine banks made the ranking this year, compared to six a year ago.
(To see the full impact of currency conversions on the 50 largest banks, download the Excel file from the Product Tips box at the bottom of the article.)
Elsewhere, Mexico's Grupo Financiero Citibanamex SA de CV returned to the top 10 this year, hitting No. 9 with $71.65 billion in assets, after being displaced in last year's ranking. All but one of the eight Mexican banks in the top 50 held onto or improved their ranking.
Meanwhile, Colombian lender Bancolombia SA, which ranked No. 9 last year, slipped to No. 11.
Trinidad and Tobago-based Republic Financial Holdings Ltd. jumped nine spots higher in the ranking to No. 38, primarily due to its completed purchase of Cayman National Corp. Ltd. and its pending purchase of Bank of Nova Scotia's Caribbean banking operations.
Brazil continued to be home to most banks in the top 50, at 11. Mexico, Chile and Colombia followed with eight, seven and six banks, respectively.
Click here to view the above chart in Microsoft Excel and here to view the above map as a PDF. Click here for the 2018 rankings. |
