A scandal cost Brazil billionaire bank CEO his job, but not control

Billionaire and investment banker Andre Esteves was remanded in a Rio de Janeiro jail for 23days and was forced to forfeit his position as CEO. Yet, that has not been enough to run him out of Brazil and BTG Pactual, as many expected.

It has now been six years and Esteves, who founded BTG Pactual and holds shares worth an estimated 40 billion reais (US$7.89bn), is progressing with efforts to return to mainstream operations within the firm and industry.

Having cleared his name from most of the corruption-related legal issues, the billionaire is many steps closer to the regulatory approvals he needs to reacquire a majority stake in the firm. 

Almost two years ago, Estevez was approved to rejoin the BTG Pactual partners group “G7”, a group (separate from the board) that holds a majority stake in the firm. 

In that time, he has led major acquisition negotiations, supervised the launch of mass banking offerings, and worked with clients on IPOs and related transactions. 

Though the lender’s shares have seen a growth of over 130% in 2 years, experts and analysts say that the degree of Esteves’ influence on decisions undermines the board and calls the standard of regulation in the country to question.