Brazil high court limits bank losses on savings

* Throws out thousands of lawsuits, limits banks losses

* Statute of limitations for individual suits upheld

* Decision can be appealed

BRASILIA, Aug 26 (Reuters) - Brazil's Superior Court ruled late on Wednesday that class-action lawsuits against banks over the adjustment of savings accounts in the late 1980s and early 1990s have a statute of limitations of five years, limiting the scope of potential losses for financial firms.

The ruling threw out 1,015 of 1,030 class-action lawsuits against banks, local media reported on Thursday, citing estimates from the IDEC consumer protection institute. The decision can be appealed at the Superior Court and at Brazil's Supreme Court.

The decision upheld a statute of limitations of 20 years for individual lawsuits, the Superior Court said.

Because of Brazil's history of hyperinflation, savings accounts in the country were adjusted on a monthly basis. The government implemented four different economic plans between 1987 and 1991 in a bid to keep inflation in check, which changed, among other things, how savings were adjusted.

Lawsuits against the banks claim some savings were virtually wiped out because of changes in the indexation. Estimates by Brazil's central bank and the finance ministry put potential losses for banks at a maximum of about 105 billion reais ($59.7 billion) if they had lost all lawsuits.

Banks could face losses below 10 billion reais if the Superior Court ruling is upheld, Folha de S.Paulo newspaper reported, citing IDEC estimates.

State-run banks such as Caixa Economica Federal and Banco do Brasil (BBAS3.SA), as well as Itau Unibanco (ITUB4.SA), Banco Bradesco (BBDC4.SA) and other private-sector banks have provisioned billions of reais in their balance sheets to meet potential court losses on the savings adjustments.

The Superior Court ruled in two appeals brought by Caixa Economica and ABN Amro Real, which is now owned by Spain's Santander (SAN.MC). ($1=1.764 reais) (Reporting by Bruno Peres, Writing by Elzio Barreto, editing by Dave Zimmerman)