Financial market managers and analysts still assimilate the latest episodes involving the largest private bank in Latin America with some perplexity. After dismissing its marketing director, Eduardo Tracanella, for irregular use of a corporate card, Itaú () filed a lawsuit against its former financial director, Alexsandro Broedel, for acting in a conflict of interest. All this in less than a week.
What drew attention was the way in which the bank did not mince words when talking about the pivots of each case, renowned executives in their respective areas. “The exemplary treatment that the two directors are receiving is important to reinforce an uncompromising culture with deviations,” said a manager, focusing on the financial sector.
“By the way, the fact that Itaú identified these cases plays in favor of the bank’s internal controls”, he adds. Tracanella’s case appears to be pacified, with the bank and executive expressing mutual gratitude in official statements and posts on Linkedin. But the situation with Broedel is more serious, with a formal petition to the Court from the financial institution against the executive.
The action also involves the name of Eliseu Martins, one of the biggest references in accounting in the country. He provided services to the bank by issuing dozens of technical and consultancy opinions. The problem is that Martins is Broedel’s partner in another company.
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The CFO left Itaú last July to take up a director position at Grupo Santander, in Spain. On social media, business consultant Stephen Kanitz, who says he was Broedel’s teacher, published: “what seems clear is that Itaú is deeply dissatisfied with Santander, which recently hired Broedel, its general accountant, someone who holds extensive knowledge about the bank’s internal operations and strategies.”
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The chief analyst at a financial institution thinks it is “very unlikely” that Itaú “would raise this point if it didn’t have something very concrete” that would justify the complaint.
“It seems to me that at no point did Itaú want to put the dust under the carpet. You are acting as seems to make sense, assuming you have the basis [da denúncia] in data”, said another analyst from a management company.
For Marcio Cyrino, a specialist in compliance and corporate investigations, Itaú set an example of zero tolerance and showed that senior executives do not escape the financial institution’s internal controls. “Compliance is something relatively new in Brazil. I have no doubt that many companies will review their controls after this episode”, he concludes.
