Osasco, São Paulo, Brazil, August 6, 2003

To
Security and Exchange Commission
Office of International Corporate Finance
Division of Corporate Finance
Washington, DC

Ref.: Acquisition of Stock Issued by the Company for Resale or Cancellation

Gentlemen,

The Board of Directors of this Bank, in a meeting held on this date, pursuant to Paragraph 4 of Article 6 of the Corporate Bylaws, and in compliance with the requirements set forth in Paragraphs 1 and 2 of Article 30 of the Law 6,404/76 and the CVM (Brazilian Securities Commission) Instructions 10, 268 and 390 of February 14, 1980, November 13, 1997 and July 8, 2003, respectively, resolved to:

I) authorize the Board of Executive Officers of this Company to acquire up to 40,000,000,000 registered book-entry stock, with no par value, comprising 15,000,000,000 common stock and 25,000,000,000 preferred stock, to be maintained in treasury stock for later resale or cancellation, without decreasing the Capital Stock, it being incumbent upon the Board of Executive Officers to determine the opportunity and number of stocks to be effectively acquired, within the limits authorized and the validity term of this resolution.

For the purposes of Article 8 of CVM Instruction 10, of February 14, 1980, it is specified that:

a) the objective of the present authorization is the application of resources available for Investment, resulting from the “Profits Reserve - Statutory Reserve” account;

b) valid for the period of three (3) months, as from August 7, 2003;

c) according to the evaluation of Article 5 of CVM Instruction 10, the Bank has 966,959,229,696 outstanding stocks, comprising 241,597,474,023 common stocks and 725,361,755,673 preferred stocks;

d) the reacquisition and/or resale operations of this stock will be undertaken at market price and will be intermediated by Bradesco S.A. Corretora de Títulos e Valores Mobiliários, with head office at Avenida Ipiranga, 282, 11o and 12o floors, São Paulo, SP.

II) in case of cancellation of the stock acquired, it will be incumbent upon the Board of Directors to propose the approval of the said cancellation to the Stockholders’ Meeting, without decreasing the Capital Stock.

Cordially,

Banco Bradesco S.A.
José Luiz Acar Pedro
Executive Vice President and
Investor Relations Director

This press release may contain forward-looking statements. These statements are statements that are not historical facts, and are based on management's current view and estimates of future economic circumstances, industry conditions, company performance and financial results. The words "anticipates", "believes", "estimates", "expects", "plans" and similar expressions, as they relate to the company, are intended to identify forward-looking statements. Statements regarding the declaration or payment of dividends, the implementation of principal operating and financing strategies and capital expenditure plans, the direction of future operations and the factors or trends affecting financial condition, liquidity or results of operations are examples of forward-looking statements. Such statements reflect the current views of management and are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties. There is no guarantee that the expected events, trends or results will actually occur. The statements are based on many assumptions and factors, including general economic and market conditions, industry conditions, and operating factors. Any changes in such assumptions or factors could cause actual results to differ materially from current expectations.