SAO PAULO, Nov 7 (Reuters) - Brazil's Grupo BTG Pactual SA on Tuesday reported a 26 percent rise in quarterly adjusted net income to 758 million reais ($232 million), as the country showed signs of recovering from the worst recession in a century.

Latin America's largest independent bank almost doubled its revenue to $1.65 billion in the third quarter, mainly due to a sharp rise in sales and trading revenue, as Brazilian stocks and currency rose on expectations for progress in structural reforms and the first signs of a pickup in economic activity.

Return on equity jumped to to 16.5 percent from 13.3 percent in the second quarter. Assets rose 7 percent to 136.8 billion at the end of September.

For most of 2016, BTG Pactual reduced assets and dismantled profitable trading positions to cope with fund withdrawals stemming from a corruption probe ensnaring founder André Esteves. ($1 = 3.2713 reais) (Reporting by Tatiana Bautzer; Editing by Richard Chang)