SAO PAULO, Aug 5 (Reuters) - Brazilian lender Itau

Unibanco ( ITUB ) on Tuesday posted a 14.3% rise in

second-quarter net recurring profit from a year earlier,

slightly beating estimates while also upping its yearly

projection for the growth of net interest income with clients.

Itau, Latin America's most valuable bank by market value,

reported an 11.5 billion reais ($2.09 billion) net recurring

profit for the quarter through the end of June, compared with an

estimate of 11.3 billion reais from analysts polled by LSEG.

The Brazilian lender's annualized return on equity (ROE), a

gauge of profitability, stood at 23.3%, rising from 22.4% a year

earlier.

"We have a positive first take as guidance was revised up

and we see this as a quality and consistent print," analysts at

JPMorgan led by Yuri Fernandes wrote, stressing the performance

of net interest income and CET1 capital ratio.

Itau said it expects the net interest income (NII) with

clients to grow between 11% and 14% this year, from an expected

7.5% to 11.5% increase previously.

The bank attributed the revised outlook in part to

positive effects of a more profitable mix of products and

segments than originally expected. "Additionally, the

liabilities margin has shown better performance, driven by

higher volumes," Itau said.

The projection of a net interest income with the market

between 1 billion and 3 billion reais this year remained

unchanged.

In a separate filing, Itau announced interest on equity to

shareholders of about 0.36 real per share.

The lender's credit portfolio reached 1.39 trillion reais in

the quarter, nearly stable from the first quarter, while the

over-90-day delinquency rate remained at its lowest level in 18

quarters, at 1.9%.

Itau also revised its estimate for this year's effective

tax rate to between 28.5% and 30.5%, from between 27% and 29%

previously.

($1 = 5.5043 reais)