BNDES will have credit card in up to four months – 06/12/2023 – Market

The president of the BNDES (National Bank for Economic and Social Development), Aloizio Mercadante, said this Monday (12) that the institution is preparing to relaunch, in about four months, the bank’s credit card.

During an event at Fiesp (Federation of Industries of the State of São Paulo), Mercadante mentioned the high demand from businessmen for the card and informed journalists that the BNDES is preparing to resume the program.

In addition to requiring time to update the computer system, Mercadante said that the estimated period of about four months takes into account the need to develop measures to avoid default, with new criteria. The relaunch of the BNDES credit card also requires, according to the bank’s president, work in partnership with other banks.

Mercadante spoke of his desire to resume issuing bonds in the market, arguing that they will not compete with those of private banks. “The private sector has its role. We can do several operations together,” he said. “The BNDES could launch LCA (Agribusiness Letter of Credit) and it can’t anymore”, he complained.

The former minister also reinforced the role of a bank like the BNDES for the development of economic sectors of society and spoke of the importance of the State for the country’s growth and the energy transition process.

When speaking of his interest in doubling the bank’s stake in four years so that the BNDES returns to its historical average size, Mercadante once again criticized the amount of dividends that the institution must allocate to the Union —currently it is 60% of the profit of the Bank.

“No development bank in the world pays dividends on this scale, there is no such thing. It is a bank to develop the economy. How does the controlling shareholder take 60% of our capital?”, he questioned. He stated that he accepts that the institution pays as dividends the minimum adopted by publicly traded companies, which is 25% of the company’s profit.

Mercadante also criticized the agreement by the TCU (Tribunal de Contas da União) for the BNDES to return the resources lent by the Treasury in the past so that the bank could distribute subsidies. “We have already paid BRL 270 billion more than the BNDES received in subsidies in six years, without monetary correction”, he emphasized.

According to Mercadante, the body is negotiating with the TCU and the Ministry of Finance to extend the return of the last installment of this payment, in the amount of R$ 23 billion, until the end of the current mandate. “I’m confident it will move forward,” he said.

Of the total for the last installment, Mercadante said he had already signed a check for R$11 billion to the Treasury. The intention, according to the president of the BNDES, is to pay the remaining R$ 23 billion in installments so that the bank has more credit to boost the economy and encourage development.

“I think it’s more than reasonable that you capitalize the bank to be able to make credit cheaper and help with the resumption of growth, especially at a time like this. The role of the public bank is not to take money from the economy to transfer it to the Treasury. The role of the public bank is to foment the economy”, he declared.