From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Unibanco is the third largest privately-owned bank in Brazil. Unibanco stands for União de Bancos Brasileiros (Brazilian Banks Union). The bank was born in the southeastern state of Minas Gerais. Today, however, its headquarters are located in the city of São Paulo, as almost all other major banks based in Brazil are. The banking house has grown to be the third biggest private national bank largely due to the 1995 acquisition of Banco Nacional, which went bankrupt alongside other major financial houses during the national banking meltdown of the early years of the Real Plan. As most banks in the country, it offers a wide variety of financial services, such as checking accounts, consumer credit, loans, insurance, pension and investment funds, brokerage services, etc. Though its shares are negotiated on the São Paulo Stock Exchange (Bovespa), it is still today controlled by its founding Moreira Salles family. The family was until recently headed by patriarch Walter Moreira Salles - a renowned banker and diplomat, who served as Brazilian ambassador to Britain as well as Finance Minister - deceased in 2001. As of 2006, his son Pedro Moreira Salles serves as the company's Chief Executive Officer and Vice Chairman of the Board.
The group own several companies, including: Fininvest, Hipercard, Luizacred, PontoCred, Banco Dibens and Unicard.
In November 2, 2008, Unibanco and the second largest Brazilian private banking group, Banco Itaú, announced plans for a merger[1]. If the deal is approved by the government, the resulting financial conglomerate would become the largest in the Southern Hemisphere and one of the 20 largest in the world. As a result, the new bank will be called Itaú Unibanco Holding S.A. The merger was approved by the Central Bank of Brazil in late February 2009.
[edit] References
[edit] External links
Poços de Caldas, Brazil (1924)
