São Paulo – Itaú Unibanco, the largest bank in Brazil and Latin America, saw its Common Equity Tier 1 (CET1) capital ratio decline by 1.2 percentage points in the fourth quarter of 2025, the largest quarterly drop since the first quarter of 2020. The bank concluded the year with a CET1 ratio of 12.3%, a level not seen in two-and-a-half years, according to a report from Risk.net.
The decrease in Itaú Unibanco’s CET1 capital stemmed from a 5.3% reduction in CET1 capital, which totaled BRL185.6 billion (approximately $35.7 billion), coupled with a 3.5% increase in risk-weighted assets (RWAs). The timing of the capital ratio decline coincides with anticipated tax changes in Brazil, though the specific impact of those changes on the bank’s capital position was not detailed in the Risk.net report.
Itaú Unibanco, formed in 2008 through the merger of Banco Itaú and Unibanco, operates extensively throughout the Americas and Europe, with a presence in countries including the United States, the United Kingdom, Switzerland, and China. The bank also has operations in Argentina, Chile, Paraguay, and Uruguay in South America, according to Banksdaily.com. As of 2025, Itaú Unibanco reported total assets of US$559.3 billion and net income of US$8.8 billion, employing approximately 92,470 people worldwide.
The bank’s extensive network includes over 33,000 service points globally, with 4,335 branches located in Brazil. Itaú Unibanco serves approximately 55 million customers, offering a wide range of financial services including retail banking, corporate banking, investment banking, insurance, and wealth management. It is the largest banking institution in Brazil, and the seventy-third largest bank in the world, according to Wikipedia.
Itaúsa, a large Brazilian conglomerate listed among Fortune magazine’s top 500 corporations, serves as the parent company of Itaú Unibanco. In December 2023, Itaú Unibanco launched a cryptocurrency trading service for clients of its investment platform, marking its entry into the digital asset exchange market, as reported by Banksdaily.com.
As of March 2021, Itaú Unibanco’s total assets reached BRL 2.2 trillion (US$350 billion) and its total credit portfolio amounted to BRL 911 billion (US$158 billion), according to Advratings.com. The company’s shares are traded on the B3 SA – Brasil Bolsa Balcao and the Recent York Stock Exchange (NYSE).