Brazil's Caixa Economica Federal has inked a deal to merge its credit and debit card business with Banco do Brasil and Banco Bradesco under the new Elo brand.
Banco do Brasil and Banco Bradesco agreed to merge some of their card operations in April in a bid to take on Visa and MasterCard in the country's fast growing market.
Caxia has now signed a heads of agreement with its rivals to take a stake in the venture. It is also "studying the possibility" of increasing its holding in payment processor Cielo and sharing ATMs.