Brazilian bank Itau on Tuesday announced that its net profit hit an all-time high of 1.9 billion reals (940 million U.S. dollars) in the first quarter of 2007, up 30 percent from a year ago.

The result exceeded expectations made by market analysts, who had estimated a net profit of 1.68 billion reals (831 million dollars) for the second largest private bank in Brazil.

Also on Monday, Bradesco, the country's largest private bank, reported that its first-quarter net profit increased 11.4 percent year-on-year to1.7 billion reals (844 million dollars).

The record in the sector in Brazil was set by state-owned Banco do Brasil, which registered 2.41 billion reals (1.19 billion dollars) in net profits in 2006.

Source: Xinhua