SAO PAULO, May 8 (Reuters) - Itau Unibanco ( ITUB ),

Latin America's largest private bank by total assets, posted on

Thursday a 13.9% increase in its first-quarter net recurring

profit when compared to a year earlier.

Itau posted a 11.13 billion reais ($1.97 billion) net

recurring profit in the quarter ended in March. Analysts polled

by LSEG had expected a 11 billion-real net recurring profit.

The Brazilian lender, which kept its annual projections

unchanged, posted 22.5% return on equity, a gauge of

profitability, rising from 21.9% a year earlier.

Its total credit portfolio stood at 1.38 trillion reais,

rising 13.2% year-on-year, but 1.7% below the previous quarter.

Meanwhile, the 90-day default ratio improved 0.4

percentage points from a year earlier and 0.1 points from the

last quarter of 2024, reaching 2.3%.

Net interest income, Itau's main source of revenue,

increased almost 13% year-on-year to 30.3 billion reais.

($1 = 5.6620 reais)