Itaú Unibanco Holding SA is redirecting the focus of its card processing unit Redecard SA away from the large retailer segment as that part of the business faces increasing competition, Reuters reported, citing Redecard CEO Marcos Magalhaes.

The company has been incurring losses from the large retailer segment since the last quarter of 2018, the executive noted. Instead, Redecard will focus on serving smaller clients, where it continued to be profitable even after deciding not to charge interest to merchants in that segment.

"We don't want to focus on card processing for our larger clients. That service should be priority for the midsized and small clients," Magalhaes said.