Itaú Unibanco Holding S.A. vs Banco Santander, S.A.: Strategic Comparison

This in-depth comparison examines Itaú Unibanco Holding S.A. and Banco Santander, S.A. across revenue, market value, business model, competitive positioning, and long-term growth strategy. Whether you are researching Itaú Unibanco Holding S.A. on its own, evaluating Banco Santander, S.A., or weighing the two companies side by side, the breakdown below highlights where each company leads and where the gap between Itaú Unibanco Holding S.A. and Banco Santander, S.A. is widest.

On the headline numbers, Itaú Unibanco Holding S.A. reports annual revenue of ~$25B against ~$52.9B for Banco Santander, S.A., while their respective market capitalizations stand at $94.0B and $211.5B. Itaú Unibanco Holding S.A. is headquartered in Brazil and Banco Santander, S.A. operates from Spain, and those different home markets shape how each company competes.

Itaú Unibanco Holding S.A.: Itaú Unibanco is the largest private bank in Brazil and one of the most profitable large banks in Latin America. It serves individuals, small businesses, corporates and institutions in Brazil, and runs banking operations in Chile, Colombia, Uruguay, Paraguay and Argentina, plus wholesale and private banking units abroad. Its brands span retail banking (Itaú, Personnalité, Uniclass), corporate and investment banking (Itaú BBA), cards (Itaucard), acquiring (Rede) and asset management.

Banco Santander, S.A.: Banco Santander is a mass-market retail and commercial bank headquartered in Boadilla del Monte near Madrid. At June 2026 it had about 185,000 employees, 182 million customers, 3.5 million shareholders and ~$2.2 trillion (EUR 1.95 trillion) in total assets. Its core markets are Spain, the UK, Portugal, Brazil, Mexico, Chile, Argentina and the US, after the 2026 exit from controlling Santander Bank Polska.

Itaú Unibanco Holding S.A. and Banco Santander, S.A. pursue distinct approaches to generating revenue, and understanding how each company operates is the foundation of any fair comparison between Itaú Unibanco Holding S.A. and Banco Santander, S.A..

Itaú Unibanco Holding S.A. business model: Itaú is a universal bank that makes money in three ways. First, net interest income: it lends to individuals (credit cards, payroll loans, mortgages, vehicle finance) and companies, funded largely by deposits, and earns the spread between lending and funding rates. Second, fees and services: card issuing through Itaucard, merchant acquiring through Rede, account and payment services, asset management, private banking and investment banking at Itaú BBA. Third, insurance, pensions and premium bonds sold to its customer base. In FY2025 management reporting, Retail generated ~$20.2 billion (R$112.2 billion) of operating revenue, Wholesale ~$11.3 billion (R$62.6 billion) and Market and Corporation activities ~$1.73 billion (R$9.6 billion).

Banco Santander, S.A. business model: Santander makes most of its money from net interest income: it gathers customer deposits (~$1.28 trillion (EUR 1.13 trillion) at June 2026) and lends them out as mortgages, consumer and auto loans, and business credit (~$1.3 trillion (EUR 1.15 trillion) of loans). In 2025 net interest income was ~$47.8 billion (EUR 42.3 billion) and net fee income ~$15.5 billion (EUR 13.7 billion). The group now runs five global businesses: Retail & Commercial Banking; Openbank (consumer finance and the digital bank, renamed from Digital Consumer Bank in Q1 2026); Corporate & Investment Banking; Wealth Management & Insurance; and Payments (Getnet and Ebury). Local banks are run as capital- and liquidity-self-sufficient subsidiaries.

The durability of a company's moat often decides long-term winners. Here is how the competitive advantages of Itaú Unibanco Holding S.A. stack up against those of Banco Santander, S.A..

Itaú Unibanco Holding S.A. competitive advantage: Itaú's advantages are scale, low-cost deposit funding, decades of credit data and a track record of underwriting through Brazilian rate cycles. Its 2025 efficiency ratio of 38.9% and ROE near 24% are high for a large universal bank, and its product shelf, from payroll loans to corporate debt underwriting, lets it serve customers and companies that digital-only rivals cannot fully cover.

Banco Santander, S.A. competitive advantage: Santander's edge is scale in a few markets where it holds top positions, combined with a shared operating model. Retail franchises in Spain, the UK, Brazil and Mexico provide low-cost deposits, while ONE Transformation moves local banks onto common technology and products (including the Gravity cloud core-banking platform). The aim is to build features once and reuse them in every country. Management credits this for cost discipline: the 2025 cost-to-income ratio was 41.2%, low for a large European bank.

Future prospects matter as much as current results. The growth strategies below explain how Itaú Unibanco Holding S.A. and Banco Santander, S.A. each plan to expand from here.

Itaú Unibanco Holding S.A. growth strategy: Under CEO Milton Maluhy Filho, Itaú's strategy centers on client centricity, efficiency and technology. It is consolidating customer apps into one platform, modernizing legacy systems and moving workloads to the cloud, expanding the use of data and AI in credit and service, growing wealth management and investment distribution, and allocating capital selectively across its Latin American subsidiaries, while returning excess capital through dividends and buybacks.

Banco Santander, S.A. growth strategy: Growth in 2026 comes from three levers. First, M&A in markets where Santander already has scale: TSB adds over four million UK customers and at least ~$528 million (GBP 400 million) of expected cost synergies, and Webster Bank gives Santander US a larger deposit base, with a target of 18% US RoTE by 2028. Second, Openbank, which combines consumer finance with the digital bank and launched in the US in 2024 to fund auto lending with online deposits. Third, fee businesses: wealth management (~$657 billion (EUR 581 billion) of assets under management at June 2026), CIB advisory and the Getnet and Ebury payments platforms.

A closer look at the financial trajectory of Itaú Unibanco Holding S.A. and Banco Santander, S.A. rounds out the comparison.

Itaú Unibanco Holding S.A.: Itaú's earnings rose steadily after the pandemic: recurring managerial profit reached ~$8.42 billion (R$46.8 billion) in 2025 (+13.1%), with ROE around 24% and an efficiency ratio of 38.9%. The bank distributed ~$6.07 billion (R$33.7 billion) to shareholders in 2025, a 72% payout. Growth continued in 2026: 2Q26 recurring profit was ~$2.23 billion (R$12.4 billion) (+7.8% year on year), operating revenues were ~$8.64 billion (R$48.0 billion), the managerial financial margin was ~$6.03 billion (R$33.5 billion) and recurring ROE was 24.3% (25.7% in Brazil). Note that IFRS figures in the 20-F (~$8.07 billion (R$44.857 billion) net income for 2025) differ from the managerial figures used in quarterly releases.

Banco Santander, S.A.: Total income rose from about $64.4 billion (EUR 57 billion) in 2023 to ~$70.5 billion (EUR 62.4 billion) in 2025, and attributable profit grew from ~$12.5 billion (EUR 11.1 billion) to ~$15.9 billion (EUR 14.1 billion). Geographic spread smooths results: Europe, North America and South America each contribute a large share of profit. Capital is returned under a policy of distributing about 50% of profit, split between cash dividends and buybacks; the September 2026 interim cash dividend was 12.7 euro cents per share, up 10%. The 2028 plan targets RoTE above 20% and profit above ~$22.6 billion (EUR 20 billion).