BTG Pactual enters Portuguese banking market

Brazilian bank BTG Pactual is to enter the Portuguese market to attract wealthy emigre Brazilians living in Portugal.

The investment bank, that was the target of searches over the corruption case Lava Jato (Operation Car Wash), is registered with the Bank of Portugal and the stock market securities commission CMVM and is expected to open an office in Lisbon in the new year.
“The bank BTG Pactual S.A. – Representational Office is registered in Portugal,” an official source confirmed to the online news source ECO.
The bank had shown an intention to expand to Portugal in a conference call with investors in September, according to the Brazilian TV station Globo. The financial director João Dantas explained at the time that the focus in Portugal would be wealth management and sought to capitalise on the exodus of wealthy Brazilians to Portugal because of the crisis.
The announcement was made a month after the bank’s headquarters had been searched by detectives as part of Operation Car Wash, the largest anti-corruption case in Brazil which has been ongoing since 2014.
The investigation revealed a corruption scheme that involved public companies including the oil giant Petrobas and top political and business figures in Brazil.
In the bank’s case, suspicions fell on the possible illegal sale of Petrobas assets to BTG in Africa. Furthermore, André Santos Esteves, banker and ex-CEO of BTG Pactual was also involved in the searches.
The BTG Pactual group made profits of over €2.8Bn Reais (around €606 million) in the first three quarters of 2019, while revenues achieved €5.8Bn Reais (€1.2 million).