Through their 2008 banking merger, The Salles and Aranha families established Itaú Unibanco, the largest private bank in Brazil.
Walter Moreira Salles helped build his family’s Unibanco to one of the top financial institutions in Brazil, through a series of high-profile banking mergers. His father, João Moreira Salles, originally founded the family’s Casa Bancária Moreira Salles in 1926, which would later become Unibanco in the 1960s. Today, Walter Moreira Salles’ son, Pedro Moreira Salles, is Chairman of Itaú Unibanco and estimated to be worth $2.8 billion. His three brothers Walter, João, and Fernando own stakes in CBMM, the world’s leading supplier of the mineral niobium.
Textile entrepreneur Alfredo Egydio de Souza Aranha founded Banco Central de Crédito in São Paulo with his partner, Aloysio Ramalho Foz in 1943. Alfredo Egydio’s nephew, Olavo Setubal, and his son-in-law, Eudoro Villela, took over management of the bank in 1959. Alfredo Egydio’s great-grandson, Alfredo Egydio Arruda Villela Filho is the largest individual shareholder of the bank’s holding company, Itausa. His worth is estimated at $2.1 billion.
The two families are active in social causes that promote culture and education through the Moreira Salles Institute, the Itaú Cultural Institute, the Itaú Social Foundation and the Unibanco Institute.
