Edir Macedo’s Bank Posts a Heavy Half-Year Loss as BTG Circles
Key Facts
A bank owned by one of Brazil’s best-known religious figures has reported a loss that swallows its own capital base. Banco Digimais lost R$581.41 million, about US$113 million, in the first half of this year.
The comparison makes the swing plainer than the number does. In the same six months of 2025 the bank made a profit of R$42.1 million, roughly US$8.2 million.
What the Numbers Show
The loss is large in absolute terms and larger relative to the institution. Banco Digimais is a mid-sized lender rather than one of Brazil’s systemic banks.
The capital position is the part that forces action. The bank’s Basel ratio, which measures capital against risk-weighted assets, fell to minus 4.62%.
The regulatory minimum in Brazil is 10.5%. A negative reading means the bank’s losses have consumed its regulatory capital entirely.
That obliges the institution to file a remediation plan with the Central Bank. It also explains why a sale process was already under way before these figures appeared.
Who Owns It
The bank is controlled by Edir Macedo, the bishop who founded the Universal Church of the Kingdom of God. He is also the owner of Record, one of Brazil’s largest broadcasters.
That combination gives a routine banking failure an unusual public profile. It is not, in itself, a regulatory matter.
The bank has operated as a mid-sized lender with a digital retail focus. Its name changed from Banco Renner to Digimais in 2019.
Its funding has leaned on certificates of deposit sold through brokers rather than on a branch network. That model can grow quickly and shrink faster.
Retail investors reach such deposits through brokerage platforms rather than a branch counter. The guarantee fund is what makes that distribution model workable at all.
Nothing in the reported figures attaches any finding to its owner. The loss is a corporate result, not a legal one.
Macedo has held banking interests for years alongside his church and broadcasting businesses. None of those other holdings is affected by the bank’s position.
The BTG Agreement
The interest from BTG Pactual is firmer than an expression of curiosity. In April the investment bank announced an agreement of intent to purchase Digimais.
The structure is a stalking-horse auction. That means BTG’s offer sets a floor and other bidders may come in above it.
The arrangement also requires financing from the deposit guarantee fund. That is the mechanism Brazil uses when a failing bank is absorbed rather than wound up.
The half-year figures do not change the shape of that process. They do explain its urgency.
The Police Investigation
A Federal Police operation in June examined suspected accounting fraud at the bank. No charge has been reported since.
That investigation sits alongside the accounting rather than inside it. The published loss is the bank’s own reported figure, not a police finding.
Brazilian bank failures of this size are rare but not unprecedented. The deposit guarantee fund exists precisely to absorb them without reaching depositors.
The case also arrives in a difficult month for Brazilian bank governance. The Supreme Court’s inquiry into Banco Master has kept the sector in the headlines for a fortnight.
Digimais is a far smaller institution than Master was, and the two cases are unconnected. What they share is a supervisory system being asked to handle two mid-sized failures at once.
Where It Sits in the Sector
Brazil’s banking system remains heavily concentrated among five large institutions. Digimais is not among them, and its failure would not threaten the system.
What it does test is the resolution machinery. The last comparable case, Banco Master, is currently the subject of a criminal inquiry and a Supreme Court dispute over jurisdiction.
A clean absorption by BTG Pactual would be the quieter outcome. It would also be the first such transaction completed since the Master affair broke.
The Central Bank has not commented publicly on the remediation plan. Neither has the bank’s controlling shareholder.
For depositors the practical question is coverage rather than ownership. Brazil’s guarantee covers balances up to R$250,000, about US$48,500, per institution.
For the wider sector the question is speed. A resolution completed inside weeks reads very differently from one that drags into the election period.
Brazilian supervision has generally moved quickly in cases of this size. The Master affair is the exception, and it is an exception made by a jurisdictional dispute rather than by the bank’s accounts.
Frequently Asked Questions
How much did Banco Digimais lose?
R$581.41 million, about US$113 million, in the first half of 2026. It made a profit of R$42.1 million, about US$8.2 million, in the same period of 2025.
Who owns Banco Digimais?
It is controlled by Edir Macedo, the bishop who founded the Universal Church of the Kingdom of God and owns the Record broadcaster.
What does a negative Basel ratio mean?
It means the bank’s losses have consumed its regulatory capital. Brazil’s minimum is 10.5%, and Digimais reported minus 4.62%.
Is BTG Pactual buying the bank?
BTG Pactual announced an agreement of intent in April 2026, structured as a stalking-horse auction that allows competing higher bids and requires deposit guarantee fund financing.
Are depositors at risk?
Brazil’s deposit guarantee fund is designed to absorb failures of this size, and its financing forms part of the reported sale structure. The bank must also file a remediation plan with the Central Bank.
Sources: Poder360 on the half-year loss, BP Money on the loss and the BTG negotiation, Notícias ao Minuto on the reported figures, Banco Central do Brasil, PTAX dollar reference rate
This article was produced by The Rio Times’ automated newsroom system. How we use AI · Report an error
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