The Central Bank decreed, this Wednesday, the extrajudicial liquidation of Will Bank, a digital bank linked to Banco Master. The decision was taken after the BC defined the institution’s insolvency, in addition to its strong link with Banco Master, which had already been in the liquidation process since November 2025.
Will Bank was declared insolvent after months under the Special Temporary Administration Regime (RAET), a mechanism that sought to preserve minimum operations while the institution’s viability was assessed.
Will Bank operated as a digital bank directly linked to the Master group. Although legally distinct, it remained dependent on the parent bank. This is what economist Bruno Corano explains.
“Informally, in the financial market we call Will Bank ‘Masterzinho’, because it is a bank of Banco Master. This consequence was already expected because it is a domino effect. Will Bank had a great dependence and connection with its owner, Banco Master”
For him, the degree of interdependence between institutions also occurred in the financial and operational spheres.
“Once the Master was liquidated, it was a matter of days before Will Bank was also impacted. The fact that Will Bank was liquidated indicates that Will Bank’s treasury, cash and other operational dynamics were dependent on its mother bank.”
With the settlement, the CDBs issued by Will Financeira are now covered by the Credit Guarantee Fund, up to a limit of R$250 thousand per CPF.
“If you had an account at Will Bank and you had shares, ETFs, BDRs, segregated third-party funds, that is, they had nothing to do with the bank, all these assets, they remain yours and you, as soon as the settlement operation progresses, you will just open an account at another institution and these assets will be transported, that is, they are not part of the 250 thousand that will eventually be covered by the FGC. As for the money you had in your account, CDBs, LCIs, LCAS, COIS, these assets were in fact within Will Bank’s CNPJ and the guarantee fund protects them”, explains Bruno.
For the economist, Banco Will was just one piece in an intricate corruption scheme.
“My perception as an economist is that we are very clearly seeing a process that demonstrates the Brazilian corruption system. What we are seeing is that it was a bank that escalated, that has connections with illicit things, that carried out operations outside the rules, where, consequently, Will only enters as a part.”
Investigations into the millionaire fraud at Banco Master revealed that the scheme used a network of investment funds to make constant deposits and withdrawals. The objective was to hide the final beneficiary of the money and defraud the system. As supervision is divided, the central bank monitored the bank, but did not have direct access to the detailed movement of funds, which is the role of the CVM.
“There is certainly a lot wrong. This story shows all the signs that it could become the new Lava Jato, not because it is a bank failure, but because it is the bankruptcy of a bank that has a sequence of very unusual indicators”, concludes Corano.
FGC ACTIVITY
The FGC clarifies that there is no defined legal deadline for payment of guarantees, but that it makes its best efforts to ensure that they occur as quickly as possible.
The estimated average deadline is 2 business days, counting from the completion of the request by the creditor. The deadlines published by the Fund are operational estimates, based on the FGC’s experience in previous settlements.
Due to security requirements and fraud prevention procedures adopted, identity validation and the release of payments for a percentage of creditors will undergo additional verification steps. This extra check can extend the time needed to complete the process.
The FGC reinforces that these measures aim to protect creditors and prevent attempted scams from negatively affecting the FGC’s assets, to the detriment of the common good provided to the community by the protection mechanism.
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