Santander Abandons Appointment of Brazilian Executive Amid Fraud Investigation
Santander has decided against appointing Brazilian executives as chief accountants, just four months after the police launched an inquiry into alleged fraud involving Brazil’s largest bank.
Alexsandro Broedel Lopes, who joined Santander in October, was set to take on the role of Chief Accounting Officer in the coming months.
However, a memo to senior managers, which was reviewed by the Financial Times, indicated that Manuel Preto, the deputy chief executive of the bank’s Portuguese division, would take over the top accounting role by the end of July.
This shift away from Broedel’s appointment follows a report from February revealing that Santander was under criminal investigation in Sao Paulo for potentially misappropriating funds while he was at Total Asset, Brazil’s largest financial institution.
The bank did not provide a specific reason for the change, but sources indicated that Broedel still remains an employee of Santander.
Itaú had previously accused Broedel, the former chief financial officer, of diverting funds from the bank through an arrangement with an external consultant he hired for the bank’s interests. Earlier reports stated that prosecutors in Sao Paulo deemed it necessary to investigate senior officials to “determine the facts.”
Last June, Santander’s board had approved Broedel’s appointment as group chief accounting officer, prior to the emergence of the allegations.
Broedel had obtained all required regulatory approvals to assume a senior position at Santander, which included passing necessary tests set by the European Central Bank for top executives.
Following the revelation of the criminal investigation, Santander referred to Broedel as “a highly regarded senior executive scheduled to take over as CAO later this year,” noting that the situation was under “development oversight.”
As of now, Broedel has not been charged with any crime, and the results of the police investigation remain pending.
Neither Santander nor Broedel provided comments regarding the memo issued on Wednesday.
A representative for Broedel had earlier called the allegations against him “baseless and meaningless,” adding that he has maintained ethical and transparent conduct throughout his 12 years in the industry.
