BTG Pactual and Nubank reportedly weighed a bid for Digimais as Brazil’s central bank pushed for a control sale

Brazil’s Federal Police has frozen R$ 670 million linked to people connected to Digimais, the bank controlled by Bishop Edir Macedo, in an investigation into fraud that could still lead to intervention. For high-risk PSPs, the useful bit is simpler: this is another case where governance pressure, reputation risk, and funding structure collided inside a bank that was already under the Banco Central’s microscope.

1. For more than two years, the Banco Central has been closely monitoring Digimais, demanding stronger governance, more capital, and a sale of control. One sale did happen: Mauricio Quadrado bought the business after leaving his partnership with Daniel Vorcaro at Banco Master.
2. Digimais was Quadrado’s way to remain in banking after Banco Master itself came under market scrutiny. In November 2025, the Banco Central blocked the transfer of control, which left the bank in limbo and forced the regulator to look for a cleaner handoff.
3. The Banco Central then tried to move Digimais to healthier groups, but talks did not progress with Nubank or BTG Pactual. Both were interested in the tax credits, and for Nubank the deal would also have brought a banking license. The reputation risk, however, carried more weight than the upside.
4. Digimais had already been using the retail playbook familiar to anyone who has watched Banco Master: it raised funds through CDBs and other securities sold to retail customers, offering high rates on instruments backed by the FGC. The two banks were not directly tied, but they ended up sharing characters, pressure points, and parts of the same problem set.
5. One of the early fraud claims against Digimais came from Yards, in a court dispute over the EXP 1 fund. Yards said securities assigned by the bank in credits from Fictor, Reag, and Banco Master had no backing, and that the episode caused losses of almost R$ 600 million.

There was also a separate bid circle around Digimais in 2025: Tércio Borlenghi Jr., founder and controller of Ambipar, reportedly sounded out the bank, and Vorcaro had considered using Ambipar’s then-inflated shares as payment in a purchase. In 2025, Digimais also hired Aldemir Bendine as president to pull the family away from management and reduce the church connection; Bendine, the former CEO of Banco do Brasil, has also been targeted in a past Federal Police operation and was once arrested.