In 1979, it opened its first operations abroad with a representative office in New York City and a subsidiary in Buenos Aires.

In the 1990s, it acquired BFB (Banco Francês e Brasileiro) (1995) from Credit Lyonnais, and also several privatized former state banks: During the 1990s, Banco Itaú invested heavily in automation, including ATMs and machines installed on customers' premises.

With the purchase, the BankBoston name disappeared from Brazil as Bank of America retained the rights to the name.

Banco Itaú also received exclusive rights to purchase BankBoston's operations in Chile and Uruguay.

On November 2, 2008, Banco Itaú and the third largest Brazilian private banking group, Unibanco, announced their intention to merge.

In 2020, due to improper charges between 2008 and 2018, Itaú signed an agreement with the Central Bank of Brazil committing itself to returning 75.6 million Reais to its customers.