Banco do Brasil, Brazil’s oldest bank, announced on September 1 its participation as an investor in the issuance of a Digital Native Structured Note issued by Citigroup using Euroclear’s Digital Financial Market Infrastructure platform.
The $5 million investment, funded from the bank’s proprietary treasury, is described by the institution as the first of its kind in Latin America. The transaction aims to highlight the advantages of blockchain-based alternatives over traditional note issuance procedures, facilitating rapid cross-border investments for institutional customers by bypassing conventional operational steps.
Banco do Brasil stated that the investment aligns with its commitment to innovation and sector transformation. According to the bank, native asset digitization reduces operational steps, increases transaction traceability, and establishes a foundation for new trading, settlement, and asset management models.
Francisco Lassalvia, Vice President of Wholesale at Banco do Brasil, emphasized that implementing decentralized digitization technology in financial markets represents a long-term structural trend. Roksolana Dushynska, Variable Income Structuring Manager for Global Market Issuance Equity Structuring at Citi, added that the use of Distributed Ledger Technology in capital markets increases efficiency, transparency, and accessibility for investors.
Previously involved in anti-crypto controversies, Banco do Brasil has recently shown increased openness to decentralized systems, including participation in the pilot phase of Drex, the Brazilian central bank digital currency, where it proposed an offline payments option. As a publicly traded institution primarily owned by the Federal Government, Banco do Brasil's involvement in this digital note trade could encourage broader institutional adoption for future transactions.
