SAO PAULO: Banco Safra SA paid 11 billion reais (US$2bil) in dividends and interest to the owners of its parent company in 2025, ahead of higher taxes that will kick in this year.
Of the total, which was the highest since at least 2016, 60% came from profits from previous years retained in the bank’s equity, according to the lender’s balance sheet.
The figure was more than seven times the 2024 payment and more than twice as big as last year’s profit of 4.4 billion reais.
Many companies in Brazil paid record dividends last year to beat the change in taxes. Investors previously paid no income tax on dividends, while interest over capital distributed to shareholders was assessed at 15%.
Starting this year, dividends over 50,000 reais are taxed at 10% and interest over capital at 17.5%.
Itau Unibanco Holding SA had profits of 46.9 billion reais last year, and its dividend and interest over capital paid was 48.3 billion reais.
Dividends paid by Sao Paulo-based Banco Safra in recent decades have helped boost the fortunes of a banking and wealth-management clan spanning Brazil, the US and Switzerland.
Vicky Safra, 73, heads the family with a fortune of about US$27.3bil, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. — Bloomberg
