← Embedded Finance Index 2026

Itau Unibanco

“Can Brazil's largest private-sector bank defend market leadership against digital challengers by transforming its own balance sheet and distribution into an embedded financial-services platform?”

Founded2008
HQSão Paulo, Brazil
IndustryBank / National
The story

Founded via the 2008 merger of Banco Itaú and Unibanco, Itaú Unibanco became Brazil's largest private-sector bank and a dominant force across retail, corporate, and investment banking in Latin America. In the 2020s, facing competitive pressure from digital challengers like Nubank, the bank accelerated its digital transformation, migrating infrastructure to AWS and opening an API developer portal to expose banking-as-a-service capabilities (Pix, FX as a Service, Open Finance). The embedded finance angle is primarily outward: Itaú operates its own full-stack financial services (payments, lending, insurance, FX, cards) in-house and increasingly exposes them via APIs and partnerships — notably partnering with Wise Platform for FX remittances and distributing Porto Seguro insurance through its channels.

Last 12 months
2025-03
2024-02
2026-04
Product timeline
2008
Itaú and Unibanco merge to form Itaú Unibanco Holding S.A., creating the largest private-sector bank in Brazil and one of the largest in Latin America.· banking
2020
Launched Iti digital account (neobank sub-brand) targeting unbanked and underbanked Brazilians.· banking
2022
Opened Itaú Developer Portal (devportal.itau.com.br) exposing APIs including Pix, Open Finance, FX as a Service, and card APIs to third-party developers.· banking
2023
Achieved leadership in primary FX ranking published by the Central Bank of Brazil.· banking
2024
Agreed to acquire Avita, a judicial surety insurance technology platform, to enhance insurance distribution for corporate clients.· acquisition
2025
Partnered with Wise Platform to enable instant international digital payments and remittances directly through the Itaú app.· banking
2026
Disclosed BRL 441 million related-party insurance distribution agreement with Porto Seguro for 2026, reinforcing bancassurance strategy.· insurance
Regulated entities
1
regulatory licence held by Itau Unibanco
Licence types, jurisdictions and registered entities are in the Embedded Finance Index report.
The stack
5 layers disclosed in Itau Unibanco’s embedded-finance stack
Payments / PSP
Itaú Unibanco Payments (self-operated)Rede (self-operated acquirer)Pix (self-operated — real-time rail)
Banking / BaaS
in the full report
Card issuing
in the full report
Lending
in the full report
FX & payouts
in the full report
Accounting gap: none
15 more providers across 4 layers, with confidence-scored evidence and source URLs, are in the Embedded Finance Index report.