Brazil-based financial services provider Caixa Econômica Federal (Caixa) has signed an agreement with Banco do Brasil and Banco Bradesco to enter the Elo card joint venture.

Under the terms of the deal, Caixa will manage the Brazilian brand of credit, debit and prepaid cards for customers of both banks. Caixa also aims to develop a new prepaid card business by establishing a payment company. In addition, the financial institution has revealed plans to increase its interest in Cielo, Brazil’s largest card processor, as well as initiate a possible collaboration over ATM network sharing.

Banco do Brasil and Banco Bradesco initially decided to merge parts of their cards businesses in early 2010 creating the venture Elo, in an attempt to compete with card schemes Visa and MasterCard, mainly among the under banked consumer segment.