Brazilian Banks Are Less Stressed

Banks in Brazil are strong and efficient and are not subject to the vagaries of the economic disasters. An overview:

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Brazil is known to have an extremely efficient banking system. Most of the banks have launched digital banking while the branches span across the country, present in almost all the cities and towns. There are 15,000 branches of the top five banks. The top banks also have substantial international operations and all the banks have correspondent banking arrangements around the world.

Three of the country’s top banks Banco do Brasil, Caixa Economica Federal and the Brazilian Development Bank, or BNDES - are owned by the government. Of the top banks operating in the country, five are Brazilian (Bradesco, Itau-Unibanco, Votorantim, Safra and BTG Pactual), one, Banco Santander, is from Spain and there are also HSBC Brasil and Citibank Brasil.

The central bank of the country has described the banking sector as strong, diversified and adequately capitalized. The high levels of capitalization and modern corporate governance have enabled the sector to weather the recent global credit crunch.

ALL BANKING SERVICES

The banks in the country offer practically all the banking services. Financial services are also offered by non-deposit taking financial institutions in the country - like lease finance, funding saving, loans and factoring. There are also investment funds in the country, which are now allowed to invest in overseas investment funds. In addition, there is a program in the country that offers low-cost financing to small and medium-sized businesses, export financing and rural credit.

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