Banco do Brasil
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Banco do Brasil | |
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| Type | Public |
|---|---|
| Founded | Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 1808 |
| Headquarters | Brasilia, Brazil |
| Key people | Rossano Maranhão (CEO) |
| Industry | Finance and Insurance |
| Products | Banking |
| Employees | - |
| Website | Homepage (English) Homepage (Portuguese) |
Banco do Brasil S.A. is a major Brazilian bank headquartered in Brasília. The bank was founded in 1808 and is the oldest surviving bank in Brazil — one of the oldest of Latin America.
Banco do Brasil is controlled by the Brazilian government but its stock is traded at the São Paulo Stock Exchange and its management follows standard international banking practices (Geneva Convention). Since 2000 it is one of the four most-profitable Brazilian banks (the others being, Bradesco, Banco Itaú, and Unibanco) and holds a strong leadership in retail banking.
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[edit] History
Banco do Brasil was founded by the regent-prince John VI of Portugal to finance the public debt. It went bankrupt two times in history: one in 1821, when the regent-prince returned to Portugal taking with him the bank's assets, and the second in 1898.
From 1821 to 1967 Banco do Brasil was the monetary authority, issuing banknotes, regulating foreign commerce and serving as National Treasury holder for the government. It gradually lost its power with the creation of the Central Bank of Brazil in 1967 and the separation from 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 — most of them unskilled to any other job, many of whom expected to remain at the bank until retirement.
After decades of losses financed by the public treasury, the bank became very profitable and is one of the key structures used by the government to finance public programs, like "Fome Zero" (Zero Hunger) and DRS (Sustainable Regional Development).
[edit] Branding
The current logo has been in use since the sixties, when the standard colors changed from brown and yellow to blue-grey-and yellow.
Since the early eighties the bank has sponsored several sports competitions (in sports such as beach soccer, volleyball, tennis, table tennis, futsal, sailing and beach volley). 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 sport through AABB (Associação Atlética Banco do Brasil).
[edit] Services
Besides commercial and government services, the bank offers a large variety of services to the consumer including bill payment services, 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.
[edit] International users
Accounts are intended for residents (temporary or permanent) of Brasil. Documents required to open an account are a CPF card (national identity card), a previous international Mastercard or Visa if the applicant has one, and proof of a current Brazilian address (such as a utility bill). A CPF card is obtainable by a foreigner in a few weeks with a passport and a birth certificate with both parents names, which process can begin at the Banco do Brasil branch. Although the account is accessible at branches and ATMs (automatic teller machines) anywhere within Brasil, and also online, some functions must be performed at the original branch. Other than rudimentary credit or debit card transactions and payments from the checking account via the internet, it may be very difficult to make deposits from another country or to transfer large sums of money to another country without being present or having a proxy with power of attorney at the branch. The account holder must renew the CPF online once per year, which is a simple declaration of income tax owed. The account is frozen any time the CPF lapses, and then it is a complicated process requiring in-person visits to renew it, again. The income taxes on investments are actually removed automatically from the accounts, and do not have to be reconciled with the government other than this simple online statement. The array of services is huge with complex lists of taxes and automatic charges, and most services are described in Portuguese only. A security system requires that each computer be registered for use with advanced internet functions, and for this an auto-attendant password (and other passwords) must have been previously set up at the branch.
Banco do Brasil has a few branches in the USA (New York, Miami) and other countries. However, these branches are intended for use only by large companies and for permanent residents of Brasil who visit the other countries.
[edit] Interest rates
Interest rates on loans vary to a great extent. A new applicant for a Visa or Mastercard credit card account, or somebody who overdrafts a checking account (within a pre-specified limit) can expect to pay well over 200% annual interest; whereas an account holder with more history can have much lower interest rates, perhaps as low as 50% on a credit card, or 24% on an income-secured or asset-secured ATM loan. High interest rates in Brasil also mean high returns on fixed-income low-risk investment accounts available automatically through the ATM. Potential high inflation is also a consideration, although Brasil has had its inflation under control (around 6% per year) between 2000 and 2006.
Banco do Brasil is not the only Brazilian bank with high interest rates. The Economist "Survey of International Banking" of 20 May 2006 reports that the average Brazilian interest rate on credit cards is 222%, even though inflation is under control, expected to be 5% for 2006. Collusion is suspected, but an economist from the Catholic university in Rio de Janeiro says it may be market segmentation (charging different prices to different sets of customers to absorb some consumer surplus). Brazilian interest rates are about 50% higher than interest rates in other developing countries.
One of the reasons for the large array of automatic services (loans, payments, investments via ATM, telephone, or internet) is that because of historical high inflation (even hyperinflation of over 100% per year) and high interest rates in Brasil, the country has developed an array of automatic payments systems, with the ability to pay an electric bill, for instance on the "day before" the due date, and the ability to parcel credit card charges from merchants into 2 to 12 monthly installments each charged to the credit card. Merchants offer this option in advertisements and price signs throughout the stores, and offer a discount for charges "à vista" (paid all in one charge). This discount usually reflects a much lower effective interest rate than the rates on the credit card accounts, making this a popular option in Brasil. Banco do Brasil offers a "grace period", letting account holders pay the entire balance just before the due date with an automatic payment from the checking account, and not charging any interest. In conjunction with the parceled charges offered by merchants, this gives account holders a chance for much lower effective interest rates.
[edit] Relationship with the Government
Traditionally the CEO is appointed by the Brazilian president but usually picked from a list 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.
[edit] Working at Banco do Brasil
Because it is public-owned Banco do Brasil must recruit workers by a Concurso Público (public draft process) and carry on strict norms of business. Working at Banco do Brasil is still a desirable job in most of Brazil. Every four years Banco do Brasil holds a nationwide public recruiting program to choose new employees. Candidates must be Brazilian nationals (or legal residents and naturalised) and must prove not to be in fault with their military and electoral obligations (both draft and vote are mandatory for all Brazilians from 18 to 70).
Other public owned Brazilian banks, like Caixa Econômica Federal, Banco da Amazônia, and Banco do Nordeste do Brasil also carry on similar processes but the one carried on by Banco do Brasil is the archetypal Concurso Público in Brazil.
Though at a time it was labelled an unnecessary and costly archaism, this selection process is now acknowledged, even internationally, as one of the sources of the bank's recent strength, as it attracts qualified people and ensures that only the ablest will enter.
[edit] External links
