List of Banks in Brazil

The Brazilian banking system consists of 155 banks including 64 national banks, 77 banks under foreign control or with foreign participation, 4 development banks and 5 exchange banks. The four largest Brazilian banks are Itaú Unibanco, Banco do Brasil, Bradesco and Caixa Economica Federal. Santander is the largest foreign bank operating in Brazil. Banco Central do Brasil, founded on December 31, 1964, is the central bank of the country. Below is a list of the major and best banks in Brazil.

Top 10 Banks in Brazil

Following are the top 10 banks in Brazil in terms of assets and deposits.

Rank	Bank	Total assets, US$b
1	Itau Unibanco	442.3
2	Banco do Brasil	381.5
3	Bradesco	341.8
4	Caixa Economica Federal	301.9
5	Santander Brasil	187.2
6	BNDES *	129.9
7	BTG Pactual	85.60
8	Banco Safra	50.98
9	Nubank **	29.94
10	Banco Cooperativo Sicredi	28.59

Total assets as of December 31, 2022, unless otherwise noted.
* BNDES is a abbreviation of Banco Nacional de Desenvolvimento Econômico e Social (The National Bank for Economic and Social Development).
** Nubank is a Brazilian neobank and the biggest fintech in Latin America, with over 100 million customers.

Itaú Unibanco Holding

Itaú Unibanco Holding S.A. is the leading bank in Brazil and Latin America in terms of assets, market capitalization and number of employees. It operates through more than 4,100 physical branches and 45,000 ATMs with an international presence in Chile, Panama, Peru, Colombia, Paraguay, Uruguay, Argentina, France, USA, the Bahamas, Canada, UK, Spain, Germany, Switzerland, Portugal, Japan and UAE. The company provides a wide array of retail, wholesale, private, SME and online banking services. It is the safest bank in Brazil according to Global Finance.

Banco do Brasil

Banco do Brasil (BB), established in 1808, is the oldest bank in Brazil. It provides retail, corporate and government banking services including checking and savings accounts, mortgages, consumer and rural loans, credit and debit cards, foreign exchange, life, health and auto insurance, fund management, investment banking and more. BB maintains branches and ATMs in 3,550 Brazilian municipalities. App BB reaches over 29 million digital users. The Bank’s shares are traded on the Sao Paulo Stock Exchange and the OTC market.

Banco Bradesco

Banco Bradesco provides services over 70 million clients through approximately 3,050 retail branches, 3,915 Service Points (PAs), 822 Express Service Points and 708 business units across the country. It also has offices in New York and London, and subsidiaries in Argentina, Luxembourg, the United States, the UK, Mexico and the Cayman Islands.

Caixa Economica Federal

Caixa Economica Federal (CAIXA), founded in 1861, is the leading bank in Brazil by number of customers, savings and home loans. With 92 million clients, it operates through 4,200 branches, 13,000 lottery outlets, 10,500 3rd party sales outlets and 29,000 ATMs in self-service rooms and gas stations across 5,500 municipalities and thousands of Brazilian towns. It also has representative offices in the U.S., Venezuela and Japan. The Bank is fully controlled by the Federal Government. CAIXA is the Best Consumer Digital Bank in Brazil with the best mobile banking app, according to World Finance magazine.

Santander Brasil

Banco Santander (Brasil) S.A. is the largest foreign bank in the country with over 60 million customers, 57,800 employees, over 2,500 branches and service centers. It offers checking and savings accounts, personal and auto loans, mortgages, insurance and investment services, foreign exchange and other services. The company is an autonomous subsidiary of Grupo Santander.

Brazilian Development Bank

Brazilian Development Bank (BNDES), established in 1952, is a state-owned financial institution controlled by the Federal Government. It acts as the main financing agent for development in Brazil and provides financial support mechanisms to companies of any size. It has long term rating of Ba2 from Moody's and BB- from Standard & Poor's.

BTG Pactual

Banco BTG Pactual S.A., founded in 1983 by Andre Jacurski, Luiz Cezar Fernandes and Paulo Guedes, is a Brazilian investment bank and asset manager with total funds under management and administration of $68 billion, wealth under management of $42 billion and revenue of $2.1 billion. The Bank is headquartered in Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro.

Banco Safra

Banco Safra S.A. is a subsidiary of Safra Group. With over 7,000 employees and 130 branches, it is a universal bank providing a wide range of products and services including private and investment banking, insurance and retirement products, real estate loans, leasing services, asset management, brokerage and distribution of securities, treasury services, foreign exchange and more. The Bank has the best possible credit ratings among the financial institutions in Brazil.

Nubank

Nu Pagamentos S.A. (or Nubank) is a Brazilian neobank and the biggest fintech in Latin America with more than 110 million customers across Brazil, Colombia and Mexico. It allowed over 21 million Brazilians to have their first credit card in five years. Nubank was founded in 2013 by David Vélez, Cristina Junqueira and Edward Wible and today employs around 7,700 people.

Citibank Brasil

Citibank N.A. (Brazil) (or Banco Citibank SA) provides corporate and investment banking, treasury and trade solutions, market and securities services, SME banking as well as services for affluent individuals and families including cash and wealth management. In 2016, Citigroup sold its consumer banking and credit card business in Brazil to Itau Unibanco Holding.

Banco BV

Banco BV S.A. (formerly Banco Votorantim S.A.) provides a broad array of products and services in the retail, wholesale, wealth management, treasury and brokerage areas. The Bank is owned by Votorantim Finance and Banco do Brasil.

Banrisul

Banrisul (Banco do Estado do Rio Grande do Sul S.A.), with about 10,200 employees, 178 service points, 419 electronic service stations and 514 branches, it is the largest bank of the Southern Brazil. It operates mainly in the state of Rio Grande do Sul.