Brasília, August 15, 2003 (Agência Brasil - ABr) - The Bank of Brazil (BB) closed the first half of this year with 16,7 million clients and a total of R$ 83.2 billion in funds from its clients in all parts of the country. These figures were announced Thursday (14) by the president of the BB, Cássio Casseb, for whom the bank "is the uncontested leader," retaining 18.7% of the market. The amount of resources administered by the bank increased 30.8%.

Casseb emphasized that this result reflects the improvement in services that the bank has been providing to the general public. "The bank learned to compete," he said.

The Bank of Brazil obtained a net profit of R$ 1.079 billion in the first half of the year, 31.1% more than in the second semester of 2002. This result corresponds to a 22.7% "annual return on average net assets." Profits amounted to R$ 1.47 for each lot of 1000 shares. The improvement is due to the increase in the number of clients to 16.7 million, the increase in receipts from service charges, and cost controls. (DAS)