Top 50 Latin American, Caribbean banks by assets

Abstract

Assets for Grupo Financiero Banorte SAB de CV, Mexico's fourth-largest bank by assets, were adjusted downwards to account for the sale of its U.S.-based subsidiary Inter National Bank. While the official exchange rate stood at 9.99 Venezuelan bolivars per U.S. dollar as of March 31, the black-market rate stood at 3,790.81 bolivars per dollar, according to DolarToday. At the official rate, Banco De Venezuela SA Banco Universal's $321.27 billion in assets would make it the...

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Itaú Unibanco Holding SA topped fellow Brazil-based Banco do Brasil SA to become Latin America's largest bank by assets at year-end 2016, with total assets of $438.00 billion compared to Banco do Brasil's $430.54 billion.

The shift came as Itaú benefited from the merger of its Banco Itaú Chile unit with CorpBanca at the start of the second quarter of 2016, which helped bolster its total loan portfolio. Additionally, both banks' rankings were buoyed by a strong recovery in the Brazilian real, with the Brazilian real gaining 21.7% against the U.S. dollar in 2016.

Indeed, in local currency Itaú and Banco do Brasil's total asset annual growth at year end came in at 4.9% and 0.02%, respectively; but when converted to U.S. dollars at period-end rates, their respective asset growth figures were 27.6% and 21.7% over the same period.

The stronger real bolstered several other Brazilian banks on the top-50 ranking, helping Brazil to place 12 banks among the top 50 by assets, up from 10 in last year's ranking. Among the more notable movers, Banco Cooperativo Sicredi SA jumped 10 spots to No. 27 as its assets grew to $20.24 billion, compared to $13.26 billion a year earlier.

In total, the dozen Brazilian banks on the top-50 list held over $2 trillion in assets at the end of 2016, more than all of the other 13 Latin American or Caribbean nations combined.

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 non-U.S. dollar filers were converted to dollars using period-end exchange rates. The majority of banks were ranked by total assets as of Dec. 31, 2016. In the previous ranking published April 27, 2016, most company assets were as of Dec. 31, 2015, but were not adjusted for any M&A activity.

Mexico was home to the second-largest number of top-50 banks; eight banks made the cut, one fewer and a year ago, with a combined $376.8 billion in assets. Several Mexican banks fell lower in the ranking on the back of a 16.2% devaluation of the peso against the dollar over 2016 amid economic slowdown concerns and more protectionist rhetoric from the United States.

The largest of the Mexican banks, Grupo Financiero BBVA Bancomer SA de CV, reported $100.72 billion in assets at the end of 2016, down 6% year over year in dollar terms. However, in peso terms, BBVA Bancomer's assets grew by 12.14%.

Assets for Grupo Financiero Banorte SAB de CV, Mexico's fourth-largest bank by assets, were adjusted downwards to account for the sale of its U.S.-based subsidiary Inter National Bank. The sale, along with a weak peso, helped push the company down three spots to No. 11.

Due to both hyper-inflation and widely varying exchange rates offered in Venezuela, none of the country's banks made it to the top 50 ranking again this year. While the official exchange rate stood at 9.99 Venezuelan bolivars per U.S. dollar as of March 31, the black-market rate stood at 3,790.81 bolivars per dollar, according to DolarToday. At the official rate, Banco De Venezuela SA Banco Universal's $321.27 billion in assets would make it the region's fifth-largest bank by assets, but at the black-market rate, the bank holds only $846.7 million in assets.

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