Brazil’s government on Tuesday shut down Banco Master, a bank worth up to $16 billion in assets, following a sprawling federal police fraud investigation, the Associated Press reported. Central Bank executive Fabio Carlos Ferreira said in a statement that all assets belonging to Banco Master and its current and former administrators have been seized. The bank, which has faced liquidity problems for months, is now under the control of a government-appointed administrator.
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Brazil is looking at taxing the use of cryptocurrencies for international payments, two officials with direct knowledge of the discussions told Reuters, closing a loophole in the country's usual levy on foreign-exchange transactions. One of the sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity about the confidential talks, said the Finance Ministry is looking at expanding its financial transaction tax (IOF) to some cross-border transfers using virtual assets and stablecoins that the central bank classified this month as forex operations.
Brazil's central bank effectively halted operations of mid-sized lender Banco Master, which had struggled in recent months with mounting liquidity pressures, on Tuesday as police arrested its controlling shareholder, Reuters reported. The regulator named a liquidator to handle creditor claims and sell assets, closing a turbulent chapter for Master, which had grown rapidly through an aggressive strategy built on high-yield debt sold through investment platforms.
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Brazilian state-run lender Banco do Brasil on Wednesday lowered its outlook for adjusted net income this year, citing higher funding expenses and rising defaults among local farmers, Reuters reported. The bank now expects annual net income of 18 billion t o 21 billion reais ($3.33 billion-$3.89 billion), down from a previous forecast of 21-25 billion reais. Banco do Brasil, long seen as a pillar of farm credit in the country, has been grappling with record default levels in its agribusiness portfolio, which hit results and raised investor concern over its exposure to the sector.
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Brazil's central bank is preparing to advance tighter regulation of the financial system to curb a rise in cyberattacks, the bank's supervision director, Ailton Aquino, said on Wednesday, Reuters reported. This year, 68 incidents have been reported through October, including 37 cases of fraud, he said at a press conference in Sao Paulo. That represents the highest number since the central bank began tracking such data in 2018 and is already above the 59 cases recorded in all of last year, according to the bank's Financial Stability Report released earlier in the day.
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Nine years after its first request for court protection, Oi has been declared bankrupt by a Rio de Janeiro court. In her ruling, Judge Simone Gastesi Chevrand, of the 7th Business Court of Rio de Janeiro— where the company’s restructuring case is being handled—ordered the suspension of all lawsuits and enforcement actions against the telecom carrier, as well as a ban on any sale or encumbrance of the bankrupt entity’s assets, ValorInternational.globo.com reported. The market reacted swiftly to the decision, sending the company’s shares tumbling.
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Brazil's central bank on Monday released long-awaited rules for trading virtual assets, including cryptocurrencies, that will extend existing rules against money laundering and terrorism financing to virtual-asset service providers, Reuters reported. Latin America's largest economy approved a legal framework for cryptocurrencies in 2022, but its rollout hinged on complementary regulation from the central bank, which later held four public consultations on the matter.
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Azul S.A. announced that the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York approved its disclosure statement, allowing the company to solicit votes on its chapter 11 reorganization plan, TipRanks.com reported. Additionally, the court approved Azul’s backstop commitment agreement, which secures $650 million to support the company’s planned capitalization.
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Brazilian airline Azul reached a settlement with unsecured creditors, advancing its financial restructuring after having filed for chapter 11 protection in May, the firm said on Saturday, Reuters reported. The settlement represents a significant step in Azul's chapter 11 process, as it provides a clear path forward for the firm, it said in a statement. Azul was the latest Latin American carrier to file for bankruptcy, joining a list of airlines in the region that have been severely impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Brazil’s credit flareups are driving up borrowing costs and spooking investors, forcing companies in Latin America’s largest economy to scrap or scale down their plans to tap the debt market, Bloomberg Law reported. Companies’ issuance of hard-currency bonds fell by more than half in October compared to the same period last year, according to Bloomberg-compiled data. Those that have seen borrowing plans upended include CSN, which shelved a deal to refinance its 2028 dollar bonds in September.
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