By Marcella Ayres and Bernardo Karam
BRASILIA (Reuters) – Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva is considering submitting four future nominees for central bank governor at once, including his running mate Gabriel Galipolo, people familiar with the matter told Reuters.
Finance Minister Fernando Haddad said the nomination is expected to be made within the next few weeks. If approved by the Senate, Lula’s pick would take office in 2025 and give the leftist president the right to appoint seven members to the central bank’s nine-member interest-rate-setting committee, or COPOM.
The presidential palace did not respond to a request for comment, while the finance ministry and central bank declined to comment.
Mr. Galipolo, the central bank’s monetary policy director, has long been seen as a leading candidate to replace Governor Roberto Campos Neto, whose term ends in December, said seven sources who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the confidential deliberations.
Fernando Onorato, chief economist at Bradesco Bank, is being considered to replace Galipolo because of his good relationships with the finance ministry and other government officials, three sources said, although one of the sources said other candidates were still on the table.
Bradesco said it was “not aware of this matter.”
Another source said Marcelo Cayas, a partner at QMS Capital and a former managing director at Credit Suisse in Brazil, was approached for the role but declined.
Kayas declined to comment on the matter.
Two sources said Girnew Bivan, the current head of the department that regulates the financial system, is one of the candidates being considered for the role of regulator general, currently held by Otávio Damaso.
The same two sources said Juliana Mozaci, head of conduct oversight, is the leading candidate to replace Carolina Barros as director of institutional relations.
Her appointment will ensure that there will be at least one woman on the interest-rate-setting committee, one of the people said.
Traditionally, the director of regulatory and institutional affairs is a career central banker, but is distinct from the director of monetary policy, who runs the foreign exchange desk and often comes from a financial markets background.
