(Businessweek) Bank of America Corp. The second-biggest U.S. bank by assets, named Rodrigo Xavier chief executive officer for the firm’s Brazil operations.

Xavier will start on March 31 and replace Alexandre Bettamio, who became head of Latin America for Bank of America in September, the Charlotte, North Carolina-based company said today in an e-mailed statement.

The new CEO was previously a founding partner at Vinci Partners Investimentos Ltda., the Rio de Janeiro-based private-equity and alternative-investment firm. Prior to that, he was CEO at Banco UBS Pactual SA from 2008 to 2009.

As of September, Bank of America had R$12.5b (US$5.3b) in assets in Brazil, R$1.3b in capital and 500 employees, according to the central bank’s website.