Brazil’s top asset managers
🏦 💰 Did you know Brazil's largest asset manager started as a bank that went bankrupt after just 13 years? Here's the incredible comeback story... ↓
In 1808, King João VI founded Brazil’s first bank, the aptly-named Banco do Brasil. Thirteen years later, it went bankrupt when the monarch returned to his native Portugal, taking with him some of the bank’s assets.
Luckily, two centuries later the bank is in much better shape. Today, this state-controlled bank is the second-largest banking institution in all of Latin America—as well as the largest asset manager in Brazil.
Despite having less in total assets than Itau Unibanco, Banco do Brasil has nearly $100B more in assets under management (AUM). As a state-affiliated bank, it handles large volumes of public-sector pensions, insurance, and investment capital.
It also manages Previ, one of Latin America’s largest pension funds.
As the bank of choice for most municipal and state governments across the country, Banco do Brasil is in an enviable position.
The federal government is a 50% shareholder, so the bank holds the monopoly of a number of government funding programs, such as Pronaf (National Subsistence Farming Support), Fome Zero (zero hunger), PASEP, and more.
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