|
BRAZIL | |
Best Bank: BTG Pactual | ||
If you have spent any time in Brazil recently you will probably have seen an advert for BTG Pactual. It is not the first mass publicity campaign the bank has conducted, but it is the first that presents BTG as a retail bank, albeit one being positioned as the choice for Brazil’s wealthier individuals.
The adverts portray BTG not as a wealth manager, not an investment bank, not even as a digital asset platform for the mass-affluent banking segment, but as a provider of current accounts.
The bank’s tilt from asset management, corporate and investment banking into retail banking had a breakthrough year in 2021.
The launch of a transactional retail product and the increase of its stake in Banco Pan creates a bank that has full depth and breadth in retail.
Its growth has been strong: net income increased by 72% to R$2.1 billion ($442 million) and revenues by 56% to R$4.4 billion in the year to the end of March 2021. Return on equity was 21.5%.
![RSallouti2021a[1].jpg](https://assets.euromoneydigital.com/dims4/default/297b59d/2147483647/strip/true/crop/3197x2131+0+0/resize/800x533!/quality/90/?url=http%3A%2F%2Feuromoney-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F74%2F20%2F9f0b17b444538485ef3a82f2d280%2Frsallouti2021a1.jpg)
However, BTG – led by chief executive Roberto Sallouti – still keeps its retail cards close to its chest.
The bank doesn’t break down the retail business statistics from the broader digital asset management platform. So, how much of the first quarter’s $52 billion of net new money is what would be considered traditional retail money? Bankers hint at big growth in this area, but no statistics quite capture the pace of retail expansion.
One way of cutting through all the noise of multiple segments being reported as one – and identifying the impact of the retail business – is by looking at the reported retail funding data.
Since June 2020, BTG has increased its retail funding from R$6.9 billion to R$29.6 billion – it now accounts for 19% of total funding excluding Banco Pan.
In the past two years, deposits have jumped from 35% of BTG’s funding base to over 50%.
It is still early in BTG’s retail journey, but already the impact on its balance sheet is big, so while 2022 will be a landmark year for BTG as a retail bank, it isn’t mission accomplished.