Brazil’s post office to seek partner to run postal bank

Next week will see Brazil’s national postal operator, Correios, starting the process of seeking a new partner to run its Postal Bank services. The company has been working since August 2001 on the project with Bradesco, one of Brazil’s four largest banks, which has allowed Bradesco to extend its presence into remote areas.

However, the contract is set to run out at the end of this year.

Correios will open a public hearing next Friday to assess the system in place to contract out Postal Bank services for the next contract, which will start from January 2012.

The hearing will examine the current contracting rules governing the selection of a financial institution to use the Correios service network for the provision of basic banking services throughout Brazil.

Brazil’s Postal Bank was set up by a government decree in the year 2000, since when it has been providing financial services in 5,266 municipalities – covering 95% of the country – with more than 10 million accounts opened.

Correios said in a statement that the Postal Bank is growing, with around 4,500 new accounts opened each day.

However, the company pointed to a survey from the Institute of Applied Economic Research stating that 39.5% of Brazilians still have no bank account.

Under Brazil’s new president, Dilma Rousseff, who took power with the Workers’ Party last month, Correios has been given a stronger remit to help tackle social issues in the country.