Chairman of Brazil bank to step down

Lazaro de Mello Brandao, the executive who holds the No. 1 employee badge at Banco Bradesco SA, announced he will step down as chairman after more than 25 years in the post, triggering a succession race at Brazil’s secondlargest bank by market value.

Brandao will be replaced by current Chief Executive Officer Luiz Carlos Trabuco Cappi, who will hold both positions until March, when the lender will elect a new CEO, according to a regulatory filing.

The 91-year-old executive, who started as a 16-year-old clerk in 1943, eventually became one of just two chairmen Bradesco has ever had and one of four CEOs, a title he held from 1981 to 1999. In May, he became the world’s oldest banking chairman as Robert Bull, 94, announced his retirement as chairman of First Keystone Community Bank in Berwick, Pa.

Brandao fostered a management culture that favored top executives promoted from the bank’s existing ranks rather than looking outside for new talent — a course Bradesco is likely to keep when choosing Trabuco’s replacement.