Itaú Private Bank has won the Best Bank for Sustainability and ESG Leadership – Corporate Strategy for defining and integrating Environmental, Social, and Governance criteria into its everyday business and launching an ESG product platform with 70 options, among other things. It has also been awarded the Outstanding Global Private Bank: Latin America trophy at the virtual PBI Global Wealth Awards 2021 for its results and approach. Itaú Private Bank (PB) has 733 dedicated specialists, a presence in seven countries and serves 8,710 Latin American (LatAm) client families. Its goal is to ensure the perpetuation of legacies and wealth for customers. It does this by focusing on services; prudent risk management; employing a great team; digitalization, which helped it during Covid-19; and its four guiding pillars:
The centrality of the client,
Sustainable partnerships,
Continuous evolution, such as its garlanded ESG work, & relationships built on trust the results are evident in its financials and performance, making it the Outstanding Global PB this year in LatAm, despite the challenges of Covid-19. Itaú Private Bank is the largest in Brazil with a market share of 28.4% during the first half of 2021. The volume of Assets under Management (AuM) reached BRL 669 billion (US$124.7 bn), double the size of the country’s number two player, and the first half of 2021 was also marked by a record capture of new assets: BRL 53.5 billion (US$9.9 bn). The prior 2020 financial results were better than expected as well, considering the pandemic, which hit Brazil hard.
There were:
BRL 39 billion (US$7.1bn) in net new assets.
5% revenue growth to BRL 2.6bn (US$473 million).
A stable net income figure (over BRL 1 billion, equivalent to US$182m).
The focus on digitalization helped ensure efficient resource management and cost-to-income ratios, as well as helping the bank deliver an effective Covid-19 response that enabled work from home practices. Digital tools served clients remotely if needed with data, online events, and services. Digitalization allowed the bank to still perform despite the challenges of the past 18 months.
Itaú Private Bank has a strong advisory model with key pillars that include:
Structured investment process: Overseen by 70 professionals across seven countries this reviews and updates the investment strategy, providing economic analysis & optimal allocation.
Wide-open platform: offers access to global products and services, curated in a one-stop-shop format.
Custom portfolio-building: for each client.
Wealth planning: access to an exclusive team of estate-planning specialists.
Environmental, Social, and Governance
ESG is a crucial part of Itaú PB’s Responsible Investments advisory pillar as well. The bank’s work ensuring that ESG considerations are fully incorporated into its business and stakeholder relations, reflecting its historical commitment to the sustainability agenda, was rewarded with its second trophy at the PBI Global Wealth Awards 2021.
It has defined and integrated ESG into its everyday operations via a series of Positive Impact Commitments that revised and updated its past sustainability guidelines to guide all future actions in this area. Other positive steps it has made to advance the ESG agenda – and ensure future growth for clients – include:
An ESG product platform: with 70 options across Brazilian and global markets, the platform spans asset classes ranging from corporate debt securities to sustainable bonds. It has been carefully curated exclusively for clients, and will no doubt grow as the ESG sector does.
Amazon Plan & Conference: In conjunction with two other large Brazilian financial institutions (FIs) Itaú created an Amazon Plan in June 2020 to promote sustainable development in the region, hitherto a problem. On 7-9 December it followed up by hosting an online conference with 70+ public figures, experts, companies, and players from the domestic and international financial markets. All of them gathered to debate investment opportunities, ESG practices, and the socioeconomic potential of the Amazon region.
Sustainable fund: By 2025, the over-arching retail Itaú Unibanco and general / investment banking arm has said it will contribute BRL 400 billion (US$72.8bn) to business initiatives that promote a sustainable, green, and inclusive economy.