Panamericano Brazil Probe May Cover Four Years

Brazil’s central bank probe into Banco Panamericano SA may cover as much as four years as regulators seek to determine why accounting irregularities occurred at the lender controlled by media mogul Silvio Santos.

“We don’t have enough elements to say why this was done,” Alvir Hoffmann, the central bank’s supervision director, said at a press conference yesterday in Brasilia. While Banco Central hasn’t determined when the inconsistencies began at the Sao Paulo-based bank, they “may have started three or four years ago,” he said.