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The Richest Family in Brazil Transformed Modest Origins into an Empire that Unites Finance and Mining, Controlling Itaú and CBMM, Global Leader in the Niobium Market.
The richest family in Brazil is not only linked to the banking sector but also to one of the most strategic minerals today. The Moreira Salles control both Itaú Unibanco, the country’s largest private bank, and the Companhia Brasileira de Metalurgia e Mineração (CBMM), responsible for 85% of global niobium production. According to AUVP Capital, the family’s wealth already exceeds US$ 27 billion, resulting from a discreet strategy that spans generations.
Origins in Minas Gerais
The trajectory of the richest family in Brazil began in Poços de Caldas (MG) in 1919 when João Moreira Salles opened a small grocery store.
In addition to selling fabrics and hardware, he offered credit to coffee producers, a practice that evolved into an official banking session in 1924.
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It seems simple, but it enriches: from R$ 500 to R$ 6,000 per piece and up to 10 days of handcrafted production, how is the couple from Praia Grande making a high income with hyper-realistic miniatures and turning a hobby into a money-making machine?
During the 1929 crisis, which devastated coffee exports, many merchants went bankrupt, but João resisted.
This financial vision was the embryo of a bank that decades later would become Unibanco, placing the Moreira Salles in a privileged position in the financial system.
Unibanco and the Leadership of Walter Moreira Salles
In the 1940s, Walter Moreira Salles took the lead. In addition to expanding the bank, he served as ambassador in Washington and Minister of Finance, responsible for renegotiating Brazil’s external debt in the 1960s.
Under his management, Unibanco grew with bold acquisitions and innovations in the capital market, such as the creation of units.
Throughout the 1990s and 2000s, it competed with Itaú and Bradesco among the largest private banks in Brazil. This expansion solidified the richest family in Brazil as a financial powerhouse.
The Historical Merger with Itaú
In 2008, amid the global crisis, Itaú and Unibanco announced their merger, creating a giant with R$ 575 billion in assets. Roberto Setubal took over as CEO, while Pedro Moreira Salles became chairman of the board.
The result was a bank present in over 20 countries, including Chile, Colombia, and the United States.
The union strengthened Itaú Unibanco as one of the largest in the world and solidified the Moreira Salles as the richest family in Brazil also in the international banking sector.
The Niobium Empire and CBMM
If Itaú brought stability, it was niobium that ensured the strategic differential. Even in the 1960s, Walter Moreira Salles acquired control of CBMM in Araxá (MG).
Decades later, this decision proved visionary. Niobium is essential for turbines, satellites, oil platforms, and ultrafast batteries for electric cars.
Today, CBMM has revenue of over US$ 4 billion per year and keeps Brazil as a global leader in this mineral. Even after selling minority stakes to foreign consortiums in 2011, control remained with the Moreira Salles.
Discretion and Cultural Power
Unlike other business families, the Moreira Salles cultivate discretion. Their public face is the Instituto Moreira Salles (IMS), a cultural reference with units in São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Belo Horizonte, and Poços de Caldas.
The heirs also reinforce this cultural side. Walter Salles won the Oscar in 2024 with the film I’m Still Here, while João Moreira Salles built a career as a documentarian.
This strategy balances the weight of an empire sustained by banking and mining with an image of philanthropy and sophistication.
The story of the Moreira Salles shows how the richest family in Brazil united finance and mining to build an almost invisible but globally impactful power.
The control of Itaú and the niobium market guarantees influence over governments, markets, and even Brazilian cultural memory.
Do you believe that a family’s dominance over such strategic sectors strengthens or weakens Brazil? Should niobium remain under private control or be treated as a national asset?
Leave your opinion in the comments — we want to hear from those living this in practice.
Não entendi bem a profundidade da pergunta, onde vocês querem chegar? A pergunta também deveria ser feita para outros minérios e demais recursos naturais que o país possui, para não aumentar muito o leque de recursos e bens que o país possue e são desperdicados.
Isso é um absurdo.
Essa riqueza é do Brasil.
O nióbio não é da família Salles.
Irresponsabilidade dos governantes
do Brasil.
Não são eles os socialistas,pois então que cedam para o estado lapidario uai