At a time when the Brazilian economy is feeling the effects of high interest rates and geopolitical instability, Itaú Unibanco is betting on the work of recent years in selecting clients, where conservatism dictated the construction of its customer base.
These efforts have made the bank feel ready to face a 2026 full of uncertainties, to the point that CEO Milton Maluhy Filho does not foresee any disruption in the credit cycle or deterioration in the quality of the portfolio in the coming quarters, with the bank maintaining its pace of credit granting.
“We prefer to always be in the market, serving our clients in the best way possible, rather than having a scenario where you accelerate credit significantly and then have to make abrupt corrections,” said Maluhy Filho, in a press conference on Wednesday, May 6, to discuss the first quarter results.
In the presentation, Maluhy Filho and CFO Gabriel Moura highlighted that the bank is managing to grow with quality thanks to its group of "target clients," many of whom have higher incomes, but whose main characteristic is their behavior throughout different economic cycles.
According to Moura, these clients represent more than 80% of the portfolio and, in terms of credit granting, account for almost 100% of new operations. He highlighted that, between December 2019 and January 2025, the indebtedness of this group grew by only 5%, while the market registered a 23% increase. "The focus on target clients has very important effects on both short-term and long-term delinquency," he stated.
At the same time, Maluhy Filho said that portfolios are growing significantly in the " target audiences," by double digits, validating the strategy. Because of this, he stated that Itaú has not changed its appetite for granting credit at this time – the guidance forecasts growth of 5.5% to 9.5% in the total loan portfolio, with the Brazilian portfolio expanding by 6.5% to 10.5%.
“The guidance given at the beginning of the year remains in place for portfolio growth,” he said. “Now, we will have to observe the dynamics of the capital markets over the next few quarters, which have been quite different from what we saw last year.”
The executives emphasized that the bank also holds this view regarding corporate clients, highlighting that Itaú increased the weight of its portfolio with guarantees from 36% in December 2019 to 55% at the beginning of 2025. In the case of agribusiness, the portfolio has strong guarantees and also fiduciary assignment, with 78% having this coverage.
In the case of large companies, with names facing difficulties, Maluhy stated that the bank monitors the cases individually and is well-prepared to deal with any potential defaulters.
With this strategy, the expectation is that Itaú will continue to "raise the bar," delivering results praised by analysts for their robustness and predictability.
The bank closed the first quarter with a net profit of R$ 12.3 billion, an increase of 10.4% compared to the same period of the previous year. Excluding the effect of the early distribution of dividends, which occurred at the end of last year, the recurring management result would have been R$ 12.7 billion, a record.
Return on equity (ROE) was 24.8%, up 2.3 percentage points year-on-year, the best result since the second quarter of 2015. Brazilian operations had an ROE of 26.4%, a figure that reaches 27.6% when adjusted to a capital level of 11.5%, the industry average.
"Value creation in the quarter was at a record high, and that's something we value a lot," said Maluhy.
At around 11:42 AM, Itaú's preferred shares were down 1.55%, at R$ 41.80. Year-to-date, the shares have risen 6.77%, bringing the market value to R$ 465.1 billion.
