On December 5, 2018, the Administrative Council for Economic Defense ("CADE") and the Central Bank of Brazil ("BC") agreed upon a joint normative act establishing procedures to better coordinate and increase efficiency of their actions in merger control regulation and competition defense in the financial sector. The act was provided for in the memorandum of understanding ("MoU") signed by the two agencies on February 28, 2018.

The act provides for, among other measures, the sharing of information between CADE and BC in order to carry out activities in the competition area and to hold periodic meetings between the two agencies. Discussions at such meetings may address issues that require regulatory action from both authorities, and that have an impact on competition between institutions under BC supervision. The two entities will also be able to use the meetings to evaluate technical cooperation in proceedings related to concentration acts and investigation of economic infractions involving institutions supervised by the BC.

The normative act also sets out procedures for carrying out activities provided for in the MoU, related to, for example, the need for BC approval of merger control linked to maintenance of stability in the financial sector, as well as the need for CADE to provide notifications to BC on administrative proceedings involving institutions supervised by the Central Bank, for the determination of competitive infractions.

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