Itau’s Eye Still on Mexico, Peru: Setubal

Now that that Itau has fully integrated operations with Unibanco’s, the bank can focus a bit more on ex-Brazil growth, its CEO says. “We are very interested in expanding our operations in Latin America in general. It is a natural path for Itau. In the coming years we will probably be more aggressive than we have been in the last five years,” Roberto Setubal tells LatinFinance. The bank started up Colombian operations late last year, adding to Chile, Uruguay, Paraguay and Argentina. He says Itau is next looking at Mexico and Peru, though there is no specific indication of timing for the full establishment of a presence in those markets. The last five years have been focused on integrating Itau and Unibanco after their 2008 merger, and with that “fully finished,” he says the bank is able to turn its focus to matters of expansion.