Chosen for BC, he was a partner of the Americanas trio – 03/22/2023 – Market

Chosen by the government of Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) to head the Monetary Policy department of the Central Bank, administrator Rodolfo Fróes accumulates in his curriculum the direction of a company of the J&F group (of the Batista brothers) and a partnership with the trio of billionaires Jorge Paulo Lemann, Carlos Alberto Sicupira and Marcel Telles, Americanas’ main shareholders, currently undergoing judicial reorganization.

He also donated to the campaigns of two candidates of the New Party in the 2018 elections.

Fróes is seen by former colleagues as a competent and qualified professional to occupy the position, but without in-depth theoretical knowledge in the area for which he was chosen.

He confirmed to Sheet this Wednesday (22) that he was asked for the position at BC, adding that was all he could say on the subject.

Graduated in Business Administration from PUC-Rio (Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro), with a specialization at Harvard, he worked at Bank of America with interest operations, at Ritchie Capital Management and was a member of the board of Banco Fator, an institution that was chaired by by the current executive secretary of the Ministry of Finance, Gabriel Galípolo. On his social network page, he claims to be an angel investor in the startup Qulture.Rocks, based in San Francisco (USA).

At Fator, he was seen as a professional with leadership skills during the period he worked at the negotiating table, in addition to being competent. Upon leaving the function, Fróes went to the board of directors of the institution.

Despite the praise for acting as a trader, former colleagues interviewed by the Sheet indicated that Fróes, although he has knowledge of monetary policy, would not be an “academic” or a theorist. He was also described as a capable professional and “a person to be treated well”.

Due to his contact with Galípolo, number 2 in the economic portfolio, he is seen by former colleagues as someone who will be trusted by the PT administration, which could facilitate dialogue between the Central Bank and the government.

On Twitter, Dan Kawa, director of investments at TAG, wrote that the “feedback” he received is that the name would represent “the lesser of evils”.

Documents registered with the São Paulo Board of Trade (Jucesp) show Fróes as one of the partners of the company Flow Participações, alongside Jorge Felipe Lemann – son of billionaire Jorge Paulo Lemann. The father himself, along with Carlos Alberto Sicupira and Marcel Telles, are also shareholders, with a 14% stake through Angramar Participações. Jorge Felipe signs as a representative of his father’s company for Flow.

Fróes entered the business right when the company was created, in 2006, with around BRL 820,000, which guaranteed him a 20% stake in the company.

He also appears as an administrator on the board of the company Liga Invest, a securities distributor (broker) acquired by J&F –from the brothers Joesley and Wesley Batista– and in which the group now has a stake via PicPay, a means of payment company.

In Jucesp’s files, the share exchange between the companies (PicPay and J&F) in Liga Invest took place in March of this year.

Sought, J&F did not respond about the permanence of Fróes in the company. Under an agreement, the company’s board of directors had a three-year term at the time, a term that would expire in 2025.

On the basis of the Federal Revenue Service, he also appears as a partner in several other companies. SW4, focused on training human resources, is the only one in which it appears exclusively in his name.

In the 2018 elections, the market professional donated resources to the campaigns of two members of the New Party, according to information from the transparency portal of the TSE (Superior Electoral Court). He allocated R$5,000 to Paulo Ganime and R$1,000 to Vinicius Poit, who were elected federal deputies for Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo, respectively.

On Tuesday (21), Minister Rui Costa (Casa Civil) said that Lula had already defined the names suggested by the head of the Treasury and that the formal nomination will be made after the president’s trip to China, which begins on the 25th of March and runs through April 1.

“Haddad took both names, he [Lula] talked to both, approved and will indicate both names to the Senate as soon as he returns [da China]”, said Costa, in an interview with GloboNews.

The law on the autonomy of the monetary authority, approved in 2021, determined that it is up to the President of the Republic to indicate the names of directors. Subsequently, the nominees undergo a sabbatical at the CAE (Economic Affairs Commission) of the Federal Senate. The names are then taken to the plenary for approval.

With the autonomy of the BC, the appointment of directors is a way for Lula to form a composition at the top of the monetary authority that is more aligned with the PT government.

Although Copom (Monetary Policy Committee) decisions are taken jointly by the eight directors and the BC president, the Monetary Policy director plays an important role in the meeting that calibrates the basic interest rate (Selic).

The high level of interest rates in the country has been the target of attacks by Lula, who has been putting pressure on the institution. This Tuesday, the president said that he will continue “hitting” and “trying to fight” so that the basic rate can be reduced. He also attacked Campos Neto again, although he did not mention him by name.