Banco do Brasil’s new CEO will face a testing year

The bank’s new head must withstand political pressure to extend subsidized credit and lower underwriting standards.

Shares in Banco do Brasil were sharply down (-4%) in the first trading session of 2023 as investors reacted negatively to the nomination of Tarciana Medeiros as its new chief executive. They were also hit by comments made by Brazil’s new president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva in his inauguration speech.

On Sunday, Lula made it clear he sees a role for state-controlled companies to provide credit to help grow the economy. Such policies under the previous Workers’ Party administration were partly blamed for the impeachment of then-president Dilma Rousseff, which came in the face of spiralling inflation, large interest-rate hikes and the deepest recession in the country’s history.

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