EXCLUSIVE: Following the Master Case, the government intends to restructure the Central Bank and the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Brasilia - In the wake of the Banco Master case, the government will hire more staff for the Central Bank (BC) and the Securities and Exchange Commission (CVM), bodies that were at the center of the scandal involving banker Daniel Vorcaro.

NeoFeed has learned that the Executive Branch will soon authorize a public competition for positions at the Central Bank — currently, more than 100 positions are being considered. And it is already preparing a bill to create 30 new positions for the CVM (Brazilian Securities and Exchange Commission).

The last competitive examination held for the monetary authority was in 2024, in which around 100 employees were appointed. The situation at the Central Bank is "critical," according to a high-ranking government source. The idea is to rebuild the workforce at the agency within a broader restructuring process of federal bodies currently underway by the Executive branch.

Both agencies have been the target of criticism regarding their oversight of, or responses to, alleged irregularities identified by the Federal Police as part of Operation Compliance Zero.

In addition to the fragile personnel structure at the CVM (Brazilian Securities and Exchange Commission), the Central Bank has also joined the chorus calling for strengthening the agency and granting it more autonomy to hire staff for overburdened areas such as Pix regulation, through the PEC (Proposed Constitutional Amendment) on financial autonomy .

Since 2023, 300 new employees have been hired for the monetary authority through public competition. Currently, the Central Bank has 3,310 employees (in 2010, there were 4,865), but the category is requesting the hiring of at least 560 more. In that period, the number of institutions supervised by the Central Bank also jumped from 300 to 1,600.

According to official data from the agency, there are 3,160 vacant positions, but according to the National Association of Central Bank Auditors (ANBCB), 566 employees could retire at any time.

The president of the Central Bank himself, Gabriel Galípolo, even asked the Senate for "help" in approving the PEC (Proposed Constitutional Amendment), which guarantees a dedicated budget for the institution. Technicians at the agency complain about a lack of night shift pay and report a low number of employees to oversee Pix (Brazil's instant payment system).

The government has been positioning itself against the PEC (Proposed Constitutional Amendment), which could be voted on in the Senate plenary next week, according to sources familiar with the negotiations. It even proposed to rapporteur Plínio Valério (PSDB-AM) that the Central Bank not have autonomy for contracting, whose authorizations must go through the Executive branch.

But the government understands that it needs to somehow replenish the Central Bank's staff. The personnel department had already been closely monitoring the agency's demand for more employees, but admits that the Master case further reinforces the need to replenish its workforce.

New positions

In the case of the CVM (Brazilian Securities and Exchange Commission), the government is also hinting at hiring, but the agency has no vacant positions and therefore needs new posts to be created.

The idea is to hire around 30 employees through a new cross-functional career path (a position that encompasses various roles within the public administration) – in the last edition of the so-called “Enem of Public Service Exams” (CNPU), an initial batch of 25 positions was also made available for the agency. Since 2023, the government has already transformed 79,000 obsolete positions into 46,000 vacant positions – exactly what it intends to do again with the CVM now.

The new positions, in turn, depend on approval by the National Congress. In this regard, the Executive branch is already preparing a bill, which it intends to send to the Legislature in the coming weeks.

Before that, however, members of the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate need to approve another bill (PLN1), which authorizes the creation of federal positions in various agencies. The bill was on the agenda for the joint session of Congress on Thursday, June 18, but the vote was postponed.

The CVM (Brazilian Securities and Exchange Commission) began the year with 482 active employees (up from 519 in 2015), according to official data from the agency. However, a recent study by the technical area indicated a demand for 544 more positions.

The regulatory body oversees investment funds, whose market value has only grown in recent years. The "market under CVM regulation" alone advanced 430% between 2024 and 2023, reaching R$ 49.5 trillion.

During Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva's current administration, an initial competition was held for 50 positions, and 14 more new positions were created.

Given its precarious staffing structure and recent history of vacant director positions, the CVM (Brazilian Securities and Exchange Commission) has also come under scrutiny from the Supreme Federal Court (STF). In May, Justice Flávio Dino ordered the agency to submit a restructuring plan. And, on June 12, he mandated adjustments, demanding greater effort from the agency in the plan.

NeoFeed has learned that Dino has already held meetings with officials from the Ministry of Finance (to which the CVM is linked), and also with Minister Esther Dweck (Management). In the conversations, government officials informed him about efforts to hire staff and also committed to setting performance targets for the agency.