Caixa promises the lowest payroll rate for Auxílio Brasil

Caixa Econômica Federal is still analyzing internally what the interest rates on the payroll loan of beneficiaries of Auxílio Brasil will be, but, according to the bank’s president, Daniella Marques, they should be the lowest on the market.

Financial companies that have already started to register interested parties in credit have performed simulations with annual rates between 79% and 98% per year.

“is not defined [o percentual]there is an internal governance of the bank, there is a process of credit balancing and definition of fees, but what I can say is that Caixa is committed to doing it at the lowest possible rate and that we will practice the lowest rate market, respecting the bank’s committees and governance”, said Marques this Tuesday (9).

Large private banks, such as Bradesco and Itaú, have already announced that they will not offer the modality. Also this Tuesday, the president of Itaú Unibanco, Milton Maluhy Filho, said that “it is not the right product for the vulnerable public”.

Marques participated in São Paulo in the launch of an initiative called Caixa pra Elas, which should reserve, in agencies, an exclusive service space for women.

The bank’s promise is that this space will have a dual function, one financial, with the promotion of education, encouraging entrepreneurship and offering services, and another social, to welcome women in situations of vulnerability and domestic violence.

Marques defended that the release of credit with discount on the payroll for beneficiary of Auxílio Brasil will be handled responsibly by the bank and said that the service initiative for women will also serve to address the issue.

“Two-thirds of the aid recipients are women, and that’s an opportunity for us to raise awareness. If the person is already in debt, for example, on the credit card of a clothing or home appliance store, they are paying 10% interest and don’t know nor what is interest”, he said.

In this sense, the president of Caixa sees the consignment as a possibility for the citizen to exchange a more expensive debt for a cheaper one. “But especially people who want to do a lot of educational work so as not to generate a stimulus for family indebtedness.”

The initiative launched in São Paulo is part of a series of actions aimed at women announced by Daniella Marques since her inauguration in early July, after Pedro Guimarães resigned on charges of sexual harassment against bank employees.

Internally, for those who work at Caixa, programs to welcome and improve the work environment are also underway.

In addition to the launch at Caixa Cultural’s headquarters, a space in conjunction with the Caixa da Sé branch, in downtown São Paulo, the bank organized a lunch at an event space in Pinheiros, in the west of São Paulo, in which President Jair Bolsonaro participated. (PL), First Lady Michelle Bolsonaro, ministers of states and businessmen.

TV presenter Ana Hickman was the master of ceremonies, and also accompanied Marques at the inauguration in Praça da Sé.

Before lunch, Bolsonaro, who spent about 1:30 hours there, spoke quickly and criticized the understanding of the human rights agenda in other governments. According to him, there was “a predisposition to put aside what is called conservatism, which I understand as, in the first place, the defense of the family.”

According to Marques, the lunch served to present the initiative to the business community, which was invited to participate with the creation of internal policies to promote information and welcome women and in partnerships to offer products and services designed for the bank’s client.

With card brands, for example, Caixa intends to define benefits such as points for expenses associated with women’s needs. In the basket of products and services linked to the initiative, Caixa is already starting to offer a credit card whose only differential, today, is the absence of annuity. Interest, from 3.45% per month, and conditions are the same as other cards.

By the end of August, 1,000 Caixa branches should have the Caixa pra Elas space – the idea is to reach 4,000 by the end of the year; today there are 250. Service in these spaces will be provided by bank employees who are being called ambassadors.

According to Marques, these services will serve as a benchmark for the definition of new products. Caixa’s president sees the banking and financial market as being very distant from women customers and advocates that public banks simplify communication.

For her, women’s entrepreneurship and financial autonomy is one of the mechanisms by which they “go through the revolving door of the cycle of abuse.”

In the first tests of Caixa pra Elas, Marques said that the ambassadors had already brought reports of delicate care, of vulnerable women and women in situations of violence.

The ambassadors, according to Caixa, were trained by the Ministry of Women, Family and Human Rights so that they can give a first orientation, with referral to the government service network, through 180, a telephone dedicated to assisting women.