João Moreira Salles
Background
João Moreira Salles established the banking lineage that eventually became Unibanco. In 1924, he added a banking section to Casa Moreira Salles in Poços de Caldas, Minas Gerais, where the family already participated in the regional coffee trade. The new operation acted as a correspondent for major state banks and brought financial services to a commercial center shaped by coffee production. His son Walther Moreira Salles assumed leadership of the banking house in 1933, when he was 21, and continued its development; the institution adopted the Banco Moreira Salles name in 1940 and later became part of União de Bancos Brasileiros, widely known as Unibanco. João did not found the modern Itaú Unibanco holding company directly. His importance is that he created one of the two predecessor franchises joined in 2008, contributing the Unibanco family, client, and commercial lineage to the combined bank. Itaú's official corporate history identifies 1924 as the beginning of its broader institutional story.