SAO PAULO, Aug 6 (Reuters) - Brazil's Itau Unibanco ( ITUB )

, Latin America's largest private lender, on Tuesday

posted second-quarter profit that was up 15.2% from a year

earlier, just beating estimates, boosted by higher revenues and

lower cost of credit.

Itau posted a 10.07 billion reais net recurring profit

($1.8 billion) for the quarter ended in June, beating the 9.99

billion reais estimated by analysts polled by LSEG.

Return on equity, a gauge for profitability, stood at 22.4%,

up from the 20.9% a year earlier.

Itau main rivals Bradesco and Santander Brasil

have already published results, both with net income

above market expectations.

Itau's net recurring profit increase was helped by an 6.4%

annual rise in its net interest income, a measure of loans minus

deposit costs and its largest source of revenue.

That performance was boosted by a nearly 6% rise in its

credit portoflio from the previous quarter to 1.25 trillion

reais, with Itau accelerating credit growth following recent

mild quarters.

The bank has in the last two years implemented a

strategy to revise the credit given to highly indebted

customers, which slowed its portfolio growth, but executives had

said Itau would now start to accelerate credit again to reach

its 2024 guidance.

Meanwhile, Itau's over 90 days' delinquency rate came at

2.7%, in line with the previous quarter and 0.3 percentage

points down year-on-year.

Itau's net recurring profit also benefited from its cost

of credit, which fell almost 7% from a year earlier to 8.8

billion reais.

Itau maintained its 2024 guidance.

($1 = 5.6572 reais)