Itaú changes rules to allow Setubal to become president.

247 - In a move that wasn't on the financial market's radar, Itaú Unibanco Holding decided to change its own corporate governance rules for a single individual: Roberto Setubal. With his retirement scheduled for next year, he has just secured two more years in his position, an initiative that must be ratified by the institution's Board of Directors. At 58 years old, Setubal will remain at the helm of Itaú Unibanco until he is 62, unless there is another change. Last year, the Setubal family bank recorded a profit 5,1% lower than the previous period. It is believed that the cancellation of Setubal's departure in 2015, as he himself had predicted, under guarantees that the institution's corporate governance plans would not be altered, is directly linked to the poor results. Furthermore, he is currently promoting a broad restructuring at the top of the institution.

Below is a news article about other changes at Itaú Unibanco, distributed by Reuters. The report points to a change in the internal retirement rules, stating, however, that it would only be valid for the next president of the institution, which was not confirmed:

Reuters - Itaú Unibanco announced on Wednesday the departure of Vice President Marcos Lisboa amid a restructuring of its leadership that also prepares the ground for the succession to the presidency, currently held by Roberto Setubal.

In a statement, the largest private bank in Latin America announced that the changes aim to simplify the organization's structure, with the goal of making decisions more agile and promoting efficiency gains by unifying business and support areas.

Lisboa, who was Secretary of Economic Policy at the Ministry of Finance and president of the Brazilian Reinsurance Institute, was with Unibanco before its merger with Itaú at the end of 2008.

"Lisboa has accepted an invitation to return to academic life and will remain in the position until March 15," the bank said in a statement.

The internal controls area, which was under Lisboa's command, will be taken over by Eduardo Vassimon, who recently returned to the group as vice president of the risk area.

Marco Bonomi, the vice president responsible for the retail banking area, will now also oversee the micro and small business area, which was previously under the umbrella of José Roberto Haym. Haym will now be responsible for the medium-sized business segment, joining the wholesale banking executive committee and reporting to Candido Bracher.

The changes, which reduce the number of vice-presidencies from 10 to nine, follow a movement that began at the end of 2012 with the departure of another vice-president, Sergio Werlang, who was then responsible for the risk area.

Marcio Schettini, vice president responsible for the Cards area and Redecard, will now also oversee the areas of Insurance, Vehicles, and Mortgage Loans.

Caio Ibrahim David, who was the finance director, and Claudia Politanski, responsible for the legal area, will now become vice presidents.

According to sources familiar with the matter, Setubal had been showing dissatisfaction with the group's recent results in areas such as insurance and risk control, which in part prevented the bank from achieving efficiency gain targets promised to investors about a year and a half ago.

As Reuters reported in January, other changes were already expected to take place after Werlang's departure.

Earlier this month, the bank announced that its 2012 net profit fell 5,1 percent compared to the previous year, partly reflecting weak credit growth and high expenses for loan loss provisions.

The bank's Board of Directors will also propose raising the maximum retirement age for the institution's CEO from the current 60 to 62 years.

However, the new rule will only apply to the next president. Setubal will leave office next year when he turns 60. For the following two years, he will serve as president of the holding company, a publicly traded company that controls all the conglomerate's businesses.

According to the bank, the decisions were made jointly by Setubal and the chairman of the board, Pedro Moreira Salles.

(Reporting by Aluisio Alves)