Development: On 3 August HSBC Plc announced that it had sold its Brazilian division to Bradesco for US$5.2bn. Significance: By purchasing HSBC, Bradesco now rivals Itaú Unibanco as the largest bank in Brazil. Its assets are now valued at R$1.193trn (US$348bn), compared with R$1.295trn for Itaú. Taking over HSBC means that Bradesco has taken on 5m extra customers, R$168bn in assets, and 851 bank branches in 529 cities across the country. HSBC, which is shifting resources to Asian markets, will continue to maintain a small presence in Brazil to attend to its business clients. According to the press release from…