BTG Pactual in Crisis

Brazil's BTG Pactual investment bank faced further trouble on Wednesday as its Chairman and Chief Executive Andre Esteves was jailed.

On November 25, Esteves relinquished his role in the troubled bank amid a corruption investigation that has slid Brazil further into recession and prompted the Senate to begin impeachment proceedings against President Dilma Rousseff.

In a published report by Reuters, Chairman Persio Arida told the business news wiree that the bank will exit non-essential investments in segments other than banking.

BTG Pactual quickly began negotiations to sell pools of loans, stakeholdings and other assets in its portfolio. A few of the deals were in place before the scandal broke while others were started days after Esteves' arrest. According to Reuters the deals include, selling Recovery do Brasil SA, Latin America's largest debt collector and the bank is looking to shed its 68 percent stake in Allpark Empreendimentos Participacoes SA, a parking lot company.

Late on Tuesday according to reports Moody's added urgency to negotiations when it stripped BTG Pactual of its investment-grade rating. Further, it cut the investments bank two levels to Ba2 from Ba3, on unease that liquidity might be in danger after the Esteves arrest.

Standard and Poor followed Moody's, downgrading the bank to B from BB- adding a warning that a further cut might follow.

The so-called "Carwash" probe is growing and has ensnared Rousseff in what is becoming Brazil's largest corruption scandal. This has led to investors in an emerging market like Brazil to tread cautiously when thinking of putting their money in the country because they fear the probe might widen pulling in more of Brazil's banks or major companies.

The central bank issues a statement on the day that Esteves was arrested stating that regulators are monitoring the situation and that bank has been operating normally with solid financial indicators.

According to Reuters the bank's units, a blend of common and preferred shares in its banking and buyout units, closed down 1.5 percent. And they added BTG Pactual shed 33 percent in the past week.