Petrobras Fresh Start Could Be More of Same With State Bank Lifer

There’s a new face at the top of Petrobras, but little else has changed. Aldemir Bendine, the former Banco do Brasil head, is a ruling party collaborator like his predecessor and has some ethics questions of his own.

While Bendine, 51, helped build Banco do Brasil into Latin America’s biggest lender by assets, Petrobras’s plunging share price when his new job was announced suggests he’s seen by investors as more government loyalist than champion for needed change. Under Bendine, Banco do Brasil -- like Petrobras, controlled by the government -- responded quickly to pressure from the country’s president, Dilma Rousseff, to boost lending to stimulate the economy, and profits suffered.