Unibanco stands for União de Bancos Brasileiros (Union of Brazilian Banks). The bank was born in 1924 in Poços de Caldas

Poços de Caldas

Poços de Caldas is a city and municipality in south-western Minas Gerais state, Brazil, in the microregion of the same name. Its estimated population in 2009 was 151,449 inhabitants...

 in the state of Minas Gerais

Minas Gerais

Minas Gerais is one of the 26 states of Brazil, of which it is the second most populous, the third richest, and the fourth largest in area. Minas Gerais is the Brazilian state with the largest number of Presidents of Brazil, the current one, Dilma Rousseff, being one of them. The capital is the...

. In time its headquarters moved to São Paulo

São Paulo

São Paulo is the largest city in Brazil, the largest city in the southern hemisphere and South America, and the world's seventh largest city by population. The metropolis is anchor to the São Paulo metropolitan area, ranked as the second-most populous metropolitan area in the Americas and among...

, Brazil's financial center. Unibanco grew to be the third largest non-government bank in the country, largely due to the 1995 acquisition of Banco Nacional

Banco Nacional

Banco Nacional was a bank from Brazil. It was taken over by Unibanco in 1995.The Nacional brand is better known as main sponsor of Ayrton Senna during most of his racing career in Formula One ....

, which went bankrupt alongside other major financial houses during the national banking meltdown of the early years of the Real Plan.

Though its shares were listed on the São Paulo Stock Exchange (Bovespa), it was largely controlled by its founding Moreira Salles family. Until his death in 2001, Walter Moreira Salles

Walter Moreira Salles

Walter Moreira Salles was a highly successful Brazilian banker, politician and philanthropist who is considered by many as one of the premier founders of the modern Brazilian financial and banking industry....

 - a renowned banker and diplomat, who served as Brazilian ambassador to Britain as well as Finance Minister - headed the family. After 2006, his son Pedro Moreira Salles

Pedro Moreira Salles

Pedro Moreira Salles is the current Chairman of Itaú Unibanco the largest private banking institution in Brazil and is a Forbes billionaires listed person with a net worth of US$ 2.6 billion.-Career:...

 served as the company's Chief Executive Officer

Chief executive officer

A chief executive officer , managing director , Executive Director for non-profit organizations, or chief executive is the highest-ranking corporate officer or administrator in charge of total management of an organization...

 and Vice Chairman of the Board.

On November 2, 2008, Unibanco and the second largest Brazilian private banking group, Banco Itaú

Banco Itaú

Itaú Unibanco is a publicly quoted bank with headquarters in São Paulo, Brazil. The bank is the result of the merger of Banco Itaú and Unibanco, which occurred on November 4, 2008 to form Itaú Unibanco Holding S.A, the largest financial conglomerate in the Southern Hemisphere and is the 10th...

, announced plans for a merger. The merger was approved by the Central Bank of Brazil

Central Bank of Brazil

The Central Bank of Brazil is Brazil's monetary authority. It was established on December 31, 1964.The Central Bank is linked with the Ministry of Finance. Like other central banks, the Brazilian central bank is the principal monetary authority of the country...

in late February 2009.

External links

• Official site (unibanco.com.br)