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“As long as we can adhere to the mantra of unity, family ownership of the bank can go on for many years yet.”Roberto Setubal, Chief Executive, Itaú Unibanco

Award winners Latin America Brazil

Three families created the banking powerhouse known today as Itaú Unibanco, which ranks among the biggest banks in the world. Roberto Setubal, the bank’s Chief Executive and a member of one of the owning families, believes that family unity has played a crucial role in creating the very successful banking business, and that the families’ long-term perspective to growth has helped them to avoid the worst pitfalls associated with financial risk.

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Roberto Setubal Itaú Unibanco

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But Roberto recognizes that great family businesses are built

on the legacy of previous generations, and he often pays

tribute to his father for the success of the bank. After receiving

the Banker of the Year Award, he said, “Ever since I was very

young, I learned from my father Olavo Egydio Setubal about

the importance of having an all-encompassing entrepreneurial

vision of the finance business, in order to go beyond the simple analysis of numbers.”

History of the Itaú side

The history of the Itaú side of the bank goes back to 1945,

when Alfredo Egídio founded Banco Central de Crédito —

which later became Banco Federal de Crédito — in São Paolo.

But it was at the beginning of the 1960s, under Olavo and

Alfredo’s son-in-law Eudoro Libânio Villela, that the Itaú

bank really got going. Olavo and Eudoro were two of Brazil’s

most successful entrepreneurs in the post-Second World

War period. And by 1973, through a series of mergers and

acquisitions, they created together the second-biggest

Brazilian bank in terms of assets.

One of the banks bought in their acquisition campaign was

Banco Itaú de Minas Geriais, which merged with Banco Federal

to become Federal Banco Itaú. Eventually, the overall bank

became known as Banco Itaú. “When my father joined the bank,

it was ranked the 58th largest in Brazil,”says Roberto “So he led incredible growth at Itaú.”

The Unibanco story

The Unibanco story began in 1924, when João Moreira Salles

set up the Casa Bancária Moreira Salles in the town of Pocos

de Caldas, about 150 miles north of São Paolo. As was the

case with Banco Itaú, much of Banco Moriera Salles’ growth

came under the leadership of the second generation. The bank,

which later became União de Bancos Brasileiros (Unibanco),

grew through a series of acquisitions led by João’s son Walter

Moreira Salles. Like Olavo and Eudoro at Itaú, Walter was

among Brazil’s most famous bankers in the period after the

Second World War. After Walter died in 2001, control of

Unibanco was passed over to his son Pedro Moreira Salles.

Pedro joined Unibanco in 1989 and became Chief Executive in 2004. Together with Roberto at Itaú, he led the merger of the

two banks to create Itaú Unibanco.

Roberto says that the two families work so well together in

managing the group because of their shared focus on unity and

their long-term vision for growth. The company has also created

a strong framework to ensure professionalism. “We have a clear

vision of the future from a long-term perspective,” he says. “And

this is what drives the bank.”

of the voting stock. And with family members in the two top

management positions at the bank, it is clear that family

remains very important at Itaú Unibanco.

Asked how the families — and, indeed, all the members of each

branch of the families — have been able to work together so well

in creating the banking giant, Roberto points to the importance

they have all placed on staying together. And he refers to the

words of his great-uncle Alfredo Egídio de Sousa Aranha, who

founded a bank that became part of Banco Itaú. “He said to my

father, many years ago, that, if you stay together as partners

and a family, you will be very successful, and we will have a very

successful company.”

Roberto says this message has been passed down through the

generations. “The unity concept has become a kind of a mantra

in the family,” says Roberto, who is widely recognized as one of

Latin America’s top bankers. Indeed, in 2011, he was named

Banker of the Year by the banking magazine Euromoney in

recognition of his role in creating Itaú Unibanco.

Roberto became Chief Executive in 1994 and led, with the

Moreira Salles family, the merger with Unibanco.

Not only is Itaú Unibanco one of the world’s biggest banks, it is

also one of Latin America’s most successful family businesses.

Headquartered today in São Paulo, Brazil’s biggest city, the bank

was created by the merger of Banco Itaú and Unibanco in 2008, and is the result of the work of three families — the Setubals, the

Moreira Salles and the Villelas.

Unity concept

Roberto Setubal is the current Chief Executive. It was his

family and the Villela family that were behind the creation and

success of Banco Itaú. The current Chairman is Pedro Moreira

Salles, whose family built Unibanco. Together, these two head

a bank that has offices and subsidiaries in most of the world’s main banking centers, a network of more than 4,000 branches

and close to 100,000 employees. In 2014, Itaú Unibanco had

revenues of US$56.1b and marketing capitalization of around

US$45b. And in 2015, it was ranked as one of the top 20 banks

in the world by Forbes magazine.

Although listed on the Brazilian Stock Exchange, the bank

is controlled by the three families that, together, hold 90%

Award winners Latin America Brazil

Roberto Sebutal (left) and Pedro Moreira Salles (right) announced the merger

of Itaú and Unibanco in 2008.

01 Roberto’s father Olavo Setubal (left) and Eudoro Villela (right); 02 Olavo Setubal (left) in a UN meeting during his term as Minister of Foreign Affairs (1985–1986); 03 Itaú’s frontage with the brand inspired by the etymology of the name: black stone.

01 02 03

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The company also has a very robust shareholders’ agreement. Roberto says that this plays an important role in ensuring the quality of governance. “One of the big points of this agreement is the importance of meritocracy,” he says. “No one gets a job unless they are qualified to do it.”

Keeping the long-term perspective

Roberto believes that the bank’s long-term approach to risk management — which is so important in banking — is a big reason why Itaú Unibanco escaped the worst of the problems that affected the financial sector in 2008 and 2009. “The bank has been consistent over time,” he says. “We don’t involve our bank in riskier businesses. Banking should be a marathon, not a 100-meter sprint.”

Roberto has announced that he is stepping down as Chief Executive in 2017. He has also said that the next boss of the bank will be a non-family member. “We have had non-family chief executives in the past,” he says. “And the time is right to have one again.”

But the bank will remain under family control. “As long as we can adhere to the mantra of unity, family ownership of the bank can go on for many years yet,” he says. In a world where many financial institutions have lost their long-term perspective, and in a sector where family ownership has largely disappeared, that can only be a good thing.

Award winners Latin America Brazil

Roberto Setubal

Chief Executive

Company name: Itaú Unibanco

Generation(s): Third

Founded: 1924 in Poços de Caldas,

Brazil

Industries: Banking financial services

Employees (2015): Approx. 88,000

“One of the big points of [the shareholder’s] agreement is the importance of meritocracy. No one gets a job unless they are qualified to do it.”Roberto Setubal

Roberto with the whole family.

The modern architecture of current Itaú Unibanco branches.

Roberto (right) with this wife Vera and his brother Paulo.

Roberto’s father Olavo Sebutal at the 90s anniversary ceremony of the bank.