Brazilian banks outperform peers in the Americas on ROE: study

Three Brazilian banks are the most profitable in terms of return on equities (ROE) among 19 large public banks in Latin America and the United States, according to a new study.

The three banks are Banco do Brasil, Itau Unibanco and Bradesco, according to the study issued by Sao Paulo-based consulting firm Economatica, which analyzed the ROE of the 19 lenders between April 2010 and March 2011. All the banks on the list have assets more than 100 billion U.S. dollars.

Banco do Brasil, the only state-owned bank on the list, ranked the first with a ROE of 26.46 percent, followed by Bradesco, with 22.33 percent, and Itau Unibanco, with 20.57 percent. Banco do Brasil is also the largest bank in Latin America in terms of assets, according to the study.

Another Brazilian bank, Santander Brasil, also made the top nine of the list with a ROE of 10.57 percent.

U.S. Bancorp was a distant fourth, with a ROE of 12.91 percent, and Capital One ranked fifth, with 12.03 percent. Both banks are U.S.-based.

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