Brazil's Itaú beats profit forecasts as expenses fall
SAO PAULO May 3 Itaú Unibanco Holding SA beat first-quarter profit estimates on Wednesday, benefiting from stricter cost and credit risk controls which allowed Brazil's biggest bank by market value to trim operational expenses and loan-loss provisions.
Recurring net income, a measure of profit excluding one-time items, climbed 6 percent to a record 6.176 billion reais ($1.96 billion) from the previous three months, and topped an average analysts consensus estimate of 6.010 billion reais compiled by Thomson Reuters.
Management stuck with this year's operational targets, which were first released in February.
($1 = 3.1532 reais) (Reporting by Guillermo Parra-Bernal. Editing by Jane Merriman)