By Brazil Stock Guide – Itaú Unibanco is making Luxembourg the center of its European banking operations, consolidating corporate and investment banking, global markets and parts of its international wealth business under a single structure as tougher European Union rules reshape how non-European banks operate across the bloc.
The overhaul brings together activities previously spread across Portugal and the United Kingdom under Itaú Europe, the group’s Luxembourg-based bank. Some positions currently based in London are expected to move to Luxembourg, although Itaú will maintain a presence in the UK.
The platform involved has about $51 billion in assets under management and a $7 billion loan book, according to Itaú BBA CEO Flavio Souza. It currently serves around 350 European companies and more than 50 global equity and fixed-income accounts.
Itaú Europe began operating as a credit institution on June 1 following a cross-border merger with the group’s former Portuguese banking operation. Based in Luxembourg, the entity gives Itaú a fully licensed banking platform inside the European Union.
European banks are preparing for the implementation of CRD VI, the EU’s latest Capital Requirements Directive, which tightens the framework governing banks headquartered outside the bloc. Among other changes, CRD VI introduces stricter rules on how non-EU banks can provide banking services to European clients and increases requirements around branches, capital, liquidity, governance and regulatory supervision. Key provisions affecting third-country banks are due to become applicable from January 2027.
For Itaú, concentrating its European banking activities in Luxembourg provides a clearer regulatory base while also simplifying a structure that had become fragmented across jurisdictions. “This strategic move reinforces our ambition to build a benchmark banking operation connecting Europe and South America,” Itaú Europe CEO Thomas Campion said in a statement.
The bank said the structure is designed to deepen that connection. Itaú Europe offers corporate lending, trade finance and advisory services, alongside equities, fixed income and derivatives for institutional investors, allowing European companies to access the group’s Latin American network while supporting South American clients expanding overseas.
The reorganization also reflects the longer-term consequences of Brexit. London will remain part of Itaú’s European footprint, particularly for global markets, but Luxembourg is taking on a broader role as the group’s banking hub within the EU. The transition is expected to be completed by the end of 2027, subject to regulatory approvals.
Itaú has operated in Europe for roughly three decades, but the new structure suggests a more defined strategy for the region. Rather than seeking to build a broad standalone European franchise, the bank is positioning itself as a financial bridge between two markets where it sees a competitive advantage: Europe and Latin America.
That makes the Luxembourg move more than an internal reorganization. Itaú is concentrating capital, governance and banking capabilities inside the EU at the same time that European regulation is raising the bar for foreign banks, effectively turning Luxembourg into the institutional anchor of its Europe-Latin America corridor.
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