The bank states that the performance is partly the result of losses on credit operations, mainly due to the high default rates of medium and large soybean, corn and livestock producers in the Central-West. The default rate, which measures delays over 90 days, jumped from 4.84% to almost 7% in one year.
In the assessment of the bank's management, part of this increase in defaults goes beyond climate or price difficulties in the countryside. According to the president of Banco do Brasil, Tarciana Medeiros, more than 90% of producers are paying on time. However, many producers who were able to pay chose to hold on to the money and not renegotiate, betting on some type of forgiveness or extraordinary help from the government after the elections. Between September and October, as the election period approached, payments fell even further. The main candidates for president promised better conditions for renegotiation.
"After two excellent renegotiation opportunities with subsidized resources and terms of up to ten years, which were made available through MPs 1,314 and 1,376, and with record harvests in 2025 and 2026. Even so, part of the large and medium producers chose not to pay or renegotiate and refused to present guarantees. The waiting period in the face of news about possible miraculous solutions, which we we have been monitoring since the beginning of the year, it has intensified in the last three months. Despite all the collection and renegotiation efforts, we are not going through the most severe cycle of agricultural credit costs in our history", says Tarciana Medeiros, president of Banco do Brasil.
With more customers not paying on time, the bank needed to set aside more money to cover possible losses. The provision for losses reached R$21.2 billion in the quarter. Of this total, R$12 billion comes from agribusiness. But it wasn't just agricultural defaults that had an impact. In the individual credit card portfolio, default rates almost doubled in 12 months and reached 16.35% in September.
Faced with this more difficult scenario, Banco do Brasil cut its profit projection for 2026 in half: from R$18 billion to R$22 billion to R$9 billion to R$11 billion. The bank also reduced its 2026 dividend payment from the previously announced 30% to 25%. And for 2027, it has already warned shareholders that the distribution will depend on the evolution of capital.
The association that brings together soybean producers, Aprosoja Brasil, criticized the statements made by Banco do Brasil management. Maurício Buffon, president of Aprosoja Brasil, stated that the sector is willing to honor the commitments made, but that the sector faces three problems: the climate issue, high interest rates and the difficulty in renegotiating accounts.
"This set of factors that allow the sector to not pay the debt. Nothing to do with a question of policy or the issue of this deadline. What happens is these factors of things that led the sector to debt, to an issue that needs renegotiation. And this is not the first crisis that the sector has had. We have had other crises and it has always been paid. Banco do Brasil has always been a great partner of the producer. In fact, in the bank's best moments, the person who gave these numbers to the bank was the rural producer himself. So, now being called being a deadbeat is unacceptable, he doesn't know what he's talking about, he doesn't know the sector", says Maurício Buffon, president of Aprosoja Brasil.
On the night of this Thursday (12), Banco do Brasil released a note to contest the interpretation that it had held the entire agribusiness sector responsible for the drop in profit in the third quarter. The note states that the bank maintains a solid partnership with the sector, which is one of the busiest in the economy, and that it will always be a partner with those who honor their commitments to bring food to Brazil and the world. BB also clarified that the specific movement of delays includes, in particular, a group of rural soybean, corn and livestock producers, mainly from the Central-West.
The assessment that the fiscal adjustment measures sent by the government to Congress are insufficient to balance public accounts and the poor result of Banco do Brasil had repercussions on the main Brazilian stock market index. The Ibovespa closed with a drop of 0.43%. The dollar rose to R$5.65. It is the highest price since June 2026.
