800 million reais. That is the figure banker Daniel Vorcaro was told to defend before Roberto Campos Neto, then president of Brazil's Central Bank, at a meeting on December 21, 2023, according to a report by the newspaper O Globo based on a Federal Police inquiry. The advice did not come from his own advisers: it came from staff of the central bank itself, the agency that supervises the banks where Brazilians keep their money.
A forensic review of the banker's phone shows that Paulo Sérgio Neves de Souza, then deputy head of the Banking Supervision Department (Desup), sent a list of talking points that same day for the meeting with the "Presi". In testimony to the Federal Police, he confirmed the nickname referred to Campos Neto, as reported by Diário de São Paulo. One of the points: the sale of the bank Voiter to his former partner Augusto Lima would create net equity of 800 million reais, more than 43 thousand years of a Brazilian minimum wage.
The script asked Vorcaro to defend Master's capitalization with tax credits tied to Banif, a Portuguese bank, mention pressure from the Credit Guarantee Fund (FGC) to cut guarantees, and promise a capital increase. Paulo Sérgio also suggested stressing that buying Will Bank, a digital lender strong in Brazil's Northeast, would let the group offer accounts and payment services to about 4 million clients of Credicesta, Master's payroll-lending arm. That is more people than live in any Brazilian state capital except São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro.
In brief: Desup is the central bank unit that supervises banks, reviews their books and can restrict their operations. The FGC is a fund paid for by the banks themselves that covers up to 250,000 reais (about 46,000 US dollars) per depositor when a bank fails; with Master under extrajudicial liquidation, that cap is what shields small savers.
The approval and what followed
Months after the meeting, still under Campos Neto, the central bank approved the transfer of control of Will Financeira, owner of Will Bank, to the Master group; the deal closed in 2024. Campos Neto was summoned to testify as a witness in the inquiry, which also examines the conduct of other central bank directors. Both Master and Will Bank were placed in extrajudicial liquidation in early 2026.
A parallel consultancy
The episode was not isolated, according to the Federal Police. On February 5, 2024, Paulo Sérgio sent another list of arguments for a meeting with the central bank's enforcement director, Ailton Aquino dos Santos, and the two staff members reviewed Master's official letters before they were filed with the regulator and the FGC. On October 2, 2025, the Desup chief, Belline Santana, created a WhatsApp group named "Master", with himself, Paulo Sérgio and Vorcaro, to speed up the exchange of draft documents; in April of that year, Paulo Sérgio had edited parts of a Master reply to Desup, the department where he worked.
Investigators concluded that the staff knew their conduct was criminal and tried to hide the content of their chats with short messages and voice calls, as reported by SBT News. The inquiry mapped indications of monthly payments and perks funded by Vorcaro, such as an international trip to Disney with Paulo Sérgio's family. The Federal Police report sums up the investigators' view:
"Obviously, it is not reasonable for a public servant in the area of bank supervision to show commitment to the private business of those he supervises, or to congratulate one of the bankers for becoming owner of another financial institution."