Banco do Brasil

Banco do Brasil S.A.
Sociedade Anônima
Traded as B3: BBAS3
Ibovespa Component
OTC Pink: BDORY
Industry Financial services
Founded Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
(October 12, 1808 (1808-10-12))
Founder King John VI
Headquarters Brasília, Federal District, Brazil
Key people
Paulo Rogério Caffarelli (CEO)
Products Banking
Insurance
Retail banking
Private Equity
Revenue Decrease US$ 53.0 billion (2017)[1]
Increase US$ 3.3 billion (2017)[2]
Total assets Increase US$ 430.0 billion (2018)[3]
Owner Brazilian Government (59%)
Number of employees
109,191 (2015)
Subsidiaries BB Seguridade
Banco Votorantim
Banco Patagonia
Banco do Brasil Americas
BrasilPrev
BB Tecnologia e Serviços
Website bb.com.br

Banco do Brasil S.A. (English: Bank of Brazil) is the largest[4] bank by assets in Brazil and all of Latin America. The bank, headquartered in Brasília, was founded in 1808 and is the oldest active bank in Brazil, even older than the country's central bank. It is also one of the oldest banks in continuous operation in the world.

Banco do Brasil is controlled by the Brazilian government but its stock is traded on the São Paulo Stock Exchange and its management follows standard international banking practices (Basel Accords). Since 2000 it has been one of the four most-profitable Brazilian banks (the others being Itaú Unibanco, Bradesco, and Santander Brasil) and holds a strong leadership position in retail banking

History

First page of the document signed by Prince Regent D. João, who founded Banco do Brasil. National Archives of Brazil.

Banco do Brasil was founded in 1808 by then prince regent John (later King John VI of Portugal) to finance the kingdom's public debt when he moved from Europe to Brazil. "As a mixed institution under state control, the Banco do Brasil served as a commercial bank, the government's fiscal agent, and Brazil's first bank of issue."[5] It went bankrupt two times in history: once during independence in 1821, when John VI returned to Portugal taking with him some of the bank's assets, and a second time in 1898.

From 1821 to 1964 Banco do Brasil occasionally performed tasks that exceeded its role as a traditional commercial bank: issuing currency, having the monopoly of currency exchange transactions and serving as National Treasury holder for the government. Such tasks were gradually given to other governmental institutions, mainly with the creation of the Central Bank of Brazil in 1964 and the separation from the National Treasury in 1987.

From 1992 onwards it was restructured as a commercial bank, using its huge geographic distribution and credit assets to leverage its redesign as a "normal" bank. In the process, tens of thousands of workers were laid off.

After decades of losses due to being used to financing some of the Brazilian Federal Government public policies, the bank became very profitable across the years. The bank is one of the key structures used by Brazilian government to estabilize the market (like preventing cartelizations in the bank interest market or stabilizing the bank credit during financial distress times like the 2008-2009 global crisis). The institution also is used to finance public programs such as the DRS - Sustainable Regional Development initiatives.

In November 2013, The Banker ranked Banco de Brasil as the top bank in Brazil based on Tier 1 capital.[6]

Branding

The Banco do Brasil headquarters in Brasília, Brazil

The current logo has been in use since the 1960s, when the standard colors changed from brown and yellow to blue-grey-and yellow.

Since the early 1980s, the bank has sponsored several sports competitions (in sports such as beach soccer, volleyball, tennis, table tennis, futsal, sailing and beach volleyball). It is the official sponsor for Robert Scheidt, Gustavo Kuerten, and the Brazilian national beach soccer, volleyball and futsal teams.

The bank also sponsors other cultural events such as plays through its organization CCBB (Centro Cultural Banco do Brasil) and amateur sports through the AABB (Associação Atlética Banco do Brasil).

Supermodel Gisele Bündchen was chosen to be the face of their first global ad campaign in 2012.[7]

Services

In addition to commercial and government services, the bank offers a large variety of services to the consumer including bill payment services (Boleto), ATM loans, and a single package that contains the account numbers for checking, multiple savings accounts, and investment account. The account holder may apply for international MasterCard and Visa debit cards which act as both a credit card on a loan account, and as a debit card on the checking account (a little different from the arrangement in many other countries, where both the debit and credit functions of a debit card act on the checking account). The list of services offered encompass many complex automatic functions from ATMs and online such as a wide variety of loans, automatic payments, Brazilian bill payments, and deposits to other Brazilian accounts. Many merchants routinely accept account-to-account transfers as payment for goods.

International users

Banco do Brasil has a few branches in the United States (Washington, Miami) and other countries.[8] These branches are intended for use by large companies and for permanent residents of Brasil who visit the other countries, but they also offer regular services for residents of the countries where they are located.

Banco do Brasil has been expanding its international presence and currently has more than 44 points of service abroad, divided into branches, sub-branches, business units / offices and subsidiaries.

Offices and subsidiaries

Interest rates

Interest rates on loans vary to a great extent but, being a public-owned bank that operates as a commercial venture, Banco do Brasil is not noted for having the highest, or the lowest rates either.

Relationship with the government

Traditionally the CEO is appointed by the Brazilian president but usually picked from a list of career directors. A few CEOs were taken from outside the financial industry.

Banco do Brasil has the monopoly of a number of government funding programs, like Pronaf (National Subsistence Farming Support), DRS, Fome Zero (zero hunger), PASEP, and others, and is the bank of choice for most municipal and state governments.

Working at Banco do Brasil

The Banco do Brasil office in São Paulo, Brazil.

Being public-owned, Banco do Brasil must recruit workers through a public draft process, known as Concurso Público and work within strict norms of business. Due to the security which the public draft process provides working for Banco do Brasil is considered a desirable job in most of Brazil. This process is usually carried out separately for each region, with approved candidates being recruited to any branch in the region, in which they completed the process, within the following two years in order of classification (it can be delayed for more than two years, once in each process). Candidates must be Brazilian nationals (or legal residents and naturalised) and must be able to prove that they have completed their military service and electoral registration obligations (both military service and voter registration are mandatory for all Brazilians aged 18 to 70).

Banco do Brasil also has 49 offices/places of business in 23 different countries, and according to the local laws of every country the employees may be local hires. The Miami Branch plus the North America Regional Office (BBUSA) and its subsidiaries in the USA (Eurobank FL - Banco do Brasil Americas, and BB Money Transfers) also have local hires.

In order for a local to be hired by the bank, the candidate must pass a competitive test, as well as demonstrate his/her ability to communicate in multiple languages, knowledge of finance, economics, computer sciences, business administration and asset management, trade, structured and project finance, among others, related to the positions that open and become available as the bank expands. Having prior experience working in related areas is fundamental.

Other public-owned Brazilian banks, like Caixa Econômica Federal, Banco da Amazônia, and Banco do Nordeste do Brasil also carry out a similar process but the process carried out by Banco do Brasil is the archetypal Brazilian Concurso Público like that of all Brazilian government funded public service jobs.

Sponsorships

The Banco do Brasil logo on Nasr's Sauber C35

Banco do Brasil is an official sponsor of the Brazil national volleyball team and has had a long-running association with Brazilian racing driver Felipe Nasr and are the title sponsor of his team, Sauber.

See also

  • Companies portal

References

  1. Banco do Brasil on the Forbes Global 2000 List
  2. Lucro líquido do Banco do Brasil cai 26% no quarto tri - EXAME.com
  3. Made the conversion at the end of fiscal year 2011 on 31.12.2011 with the dollar being worth US$1.00 x R$ 0.53
  4. http://exame.abril.com.br/negocios/os-20-maiores-bancos-do-brasil-em-valor-de-ativos/
  5. Steven Topik, "Banco do Brasil" in Encyclopedia of Latin American History and Culture. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons 1996, vol. 1, p. 278.
  6. "The top five banks in Brazil". The Banker. 6 November 2013.
  7. Gisele Bündchen ad campaign
  8. Branches outside Brazil in Portuguese.
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