XP has been outperforming even its most optimistic analysts’ projections in recent quarters.

It has made waves with an IPO and by building a strong retail banking platform. Less well known is how the firm is gatecrashing the country’s thriving wealth management industry.

With Santander Brasil registering record profits and Santander Mexico promising the same, the outlook for the group looks Latin. As its European business stalls, how will the bank be affected by Latin America’s shift from engine of growth to core business?

Report says they must cut costs by 10%; years of 20%+ ROE are coming to an end.

The process of financial digitalization has been a challenge for journalists covering Brazil’s banking sector.

If Brazil does well, Bradesco does well. Its management is confident there are good times ahead.

The bank may be at the peak of its value creation, as the government looks to promote greater competition in Brazilian banking.

Itaú retains 49% stake, now equivalent to 10% of the group’s market cap, as rapid growth leads to runaway valuation.

It’s 2020: welcome to the decade of low-cost Brazilian banking.

Brazil’s currency hit an all-time low nominal value on November 18, closing trading at R$4.20 to the dollar.

UBS’s country head refuses to comment on whether Banco do Brasil has been given a ‘call option on the bank’s Brazilian IB business’.

Itaú overtakes state-controlled Banco do Brasil to become the largest lender.

As the number of financial technology startups in Brazil balloons, there is a growing sense that the pin to puncture their growth is one critical area of operation: credit. Full service in the digital age is a serious, long-term challenge for new entrants and traditional players.

Brazil should be careful of learning the wrong lessons from Chilean protests.

IMF conversations positive but with a streak of caution.

Lower local rates have increased price and increased demand onshore.

Deforestation – and the cattle farming that largely drives it – has caught the world’s attention. While some environmentalists suggest punitive measures to make Brazil a better steward of the forest, there are already more constructive, private-sector responses to the challenge. Can they scale quickly enough to save the Amazon?

International investors remain cautious, despite a strong performance in deal activity this year.

Investors expect a radical transformation in Brazilian financial services in the next five years: this enthusiasm is depressing incumbent stocks while driving strong valuations for start-ups.

Bradesco’s digital bank start-up has grown rapidly and is already looking to leave the bank’s existing corporate structure.

Success for pensions reform in the Congress – the long-held litmus test of Brazilian recovery – has buoyed asset prices and led to a flurry of activity.

The rapid fall in interest rates in Brazil, from a peak of 14.25% in 2016 to 6.5% in February 2018, created expectations among analysts that the biggest banks’ famously high net interest margin was finally about to be eroded.

The bank has retrenched, rebranded and grown since 2015.

Despite the headwinds for region’s banks, there were some outstanding performances that demonstrate what can be achieved without macroeconomic support. The best example of this was Santander Brasil, Latin America’s best bank.

Banco do Brasil wins the award for the region’s best bank transformation.

Digital banking brings opportunities – especially so for startups. Unencumbered by bricks and mortar branches – as well other fixed costs associated with the traditional banks – many purely digital firms have achieved impressive growth.

This year, the region’s best investment bank is BTG Pactual. It climbed back to leadership in its domestic market and grew strongly elsewhere in the region.

BTG Pactual

$2.5 billion deal makes bank more profitable and a purer ‘Latam’ play; CEO says still huge upside on valuations, and revenue growth to come.

HSBC wants to triple both onshore and offshore revenues, profits and ebitda in Brazil within five years.