Over the last decade, Latin
America's strongest economy
has emerged as one of the few countries with the greatest potential
for growth. Despite the global financial turmoil, the Brazilian economy
continues to differentiate itself with upbeat growth vistas. In a world where
financial sector is struggling, Brazil's banking sector is converting the country
of samba into a land of opportunity. Brazil's banks may be expensive
but are safe, and none has yet been troubled by the global financial meltdown.
Their profits from regular banking operations have been comfortable against
fastened regulation after the crisis of the mid-1990s . Brazil has not suffered from
global solvency mainly because of the extreme conservative lending policies
pursued by its banks. Backed by strong local demand and tax relief, the
economy is leaving the global crisis behind it and will emerge relatively stronger
than other developed and emerging markets, once the global economy stabilizes.
Brazil's financial sector growth picture has caught the attention of
foreign institutional investors, which in recent years have shown an
unprecedented process of expansion and
consolidation. Today, they may be in a position to
take advantage of their global peers' weakness to buy attractive assets cheaply.
In fact, BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India and China) economies are leading
the global banking sector and some of the biggest banks are now in BRIC. China's
Industrial and Commercial Bank of China is now the largest bank in the world,
followed by ICBC, Sberbank in Russia, Banco Itaú in Brazil and India's
State Bank of India. Compared to other economies, the banking system in Brazil is
in good shape, dominated by the largest banks, Itau Unibanco Banco
Multiplo, Bank of Brazil, and the third largest by
assets Banco Bradesco.
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