The Brazilian Federal Prosecution Service has opened a civil inquiry to investigate Banco do Brasil's links to slavery and the trafficking of enslaved black people in the 19th century.
According to the lawsuit, information was requested from the institution's presidency regarding Banco do Brasil's position regarding its relationship with trafficking and traffickers of enslaved black people and about financing carried out and its relationship with slavery.
Among the demands, the organ also asked the bank to comment on the existence of funded research to evaluate the narrative of its own history and initiatives with specific reparation purposes regarding this period.
Banco do Brasil claims to consider that "the country's history and its relations with the slavery of black communities need to be a process of permanent reflection" and that, in relation to historical reparation, "it understands that this is a responsibility of the whole society".
Translated by Cassy Dias