SAO PAULO (Reuters) – Brazil’s biggest private-sector lender Itau Unibanco Holding SA posted on Thursday a higher-than-expected fourth quarter profit, mainly driven by higher gains in consumer lending and in its insurance unit.
Recurring net income, which excludes one-off items, rose 32.9% from a year earlier to 7.159 billion reais, above a consensus estimate of 6.828 billion reais compiled by Refinitiv.
The bank also said it expected loan book growth of between 9% and 12% this year, while loan-loss provisions should be between 25 billion reais and 29 billion reais.
(Reporting by Carolina Mandl; Editing by Chris Reese)
