Banco de Talca (''Bank of Talca'') was a Chilean bank founded in 1884, whose headquarters were in the city of
Talca
Talca () is a List of cities in Chile, city and Communes of Chile, commune in Chile located about south of Santiago, Chile, Santiago, and is the capital of both Talca Province and Maule Region (7th Region of Chile). As of the 2012 census, the ...
. Most of its operations were concentrated in the
Maule and Metropolitan regions.
In 1981 it was intervened by the Government and liquidated the following year, due to the debts contracted by the institution and of which its board of directors was accused of fraud.
History
Beginnings
![Banco de Talca Cauquenes](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/69/Banco_de_Talca_Cauquenes.jpg)
Banco de Talca was officially constituted on September 17, 1884 with a capital of 1 million pesos of the time (issued by 2000 shares of 500 pesos each), a gigantic figure at that time, contributed by 32 men and 9 women of renown in the province. While its bylaws were approved by the Ministry of Finance on October 27 of the same year, on June 20, 1885 it was declared legally installed and it was set as the start date of operations on July 1 of the same year, opening its doors the next day. The first board of directors of the bank was made up of Jerónimo de la Cruz, Urcisino Opazo, José Manuel Fernández, Ruperto Echeverría, José Francisco Walton, Daniel Vergara and Ángel María Garcés.
On October 27, 1885, it opened his first branch in
Cauquenes
Cauquenes, a city and commune in Chile, is the capital of the Cauquenes Province and is located in the Maule Region.
History
According to the historical records of Alonso de Ercilla, Cauquenes was originally inhabited by an indigenous community o ...
, later opening branches in
Parral (September 1, 1888) and
Linares (January 27, 1890).
Like several banks of that time in Chile, Banco de Talca issued its own money, which was made through the printing of 5, 10, 20 and 100 peso notes; the first 5, 10 and 100 peso issues (made in 1885) included portraits of generals of the
War of the Pacific
The War of the Pacific ( es, link=no, Guerra del Pacífico), also known as the Saltpeter War ( es, link=no, Guerra del salitre) and by multiple other names, was a war between Chile and a Bolivian–Peruvian alliance from 1879 to 1884. Fought ...
,
Benjamín Vicuña Mackenna
Benjamín Vicuña Mackenna (August 25, 1831 – January 25, 1886) was a Chilean writer, journalist, historian and politician. Vicuña Mackenna was of Irish and Basque descent.
Biography
Benjamín Vicuña Mackenna was born in Santiago, the ...
and
José Francisco Vergara
José Francisco Vergara Echevers was a Chilean politician, war hero, cavalry commander, presidential candidate, engineer and journalist who was notable for founding Viña del Mar as well as his several military campaigns of the War of the Pacific ...
, while the 20 pesos banknotes (made in 1888) carried the portrait of
Tomás Marín de Poveda Tomás may refer to:
* Tomás (given name)
* Tomás (surname) Tomás is a Spanish and Portuguese surname, equivalent of ''Thomas''.
It may refer to:
* Antonio Tomás (born 1985), professional Spanish footballer
* Belarmino Tomás (1892–1950), ...
, founder of the city.
[
In 1893 the house that had belonged to Pedro José Jara at the corner of 1 Oriente and 1 Sur streets —where the bank was located since 1885— was demolished to build a new modern building, designed by Federico Thumm and whose construction was in charge of José Casali and Enrique Ohde, inaugurated in 1895.][
]
Expansion and development
In the early 20th century the bank opened new branches in San Carlos (March 1906), Quirihue
Quirihue () is a Chilean city in Quirihue, Itata Province, Ñuble Region.
It is located about 72 kilometers northwest of Chillán and 410 km southwest of Santiago.
Demographics
According to the 2002 census of the National Statistics Institut ...
(opened in 1904 and closed in 1912) and San Javier (the latter in 1926, closed on September 11, 1931 and reopened in 1943). The earthquake of December 1, 1928 severely damaged the building of the bank, so the institution continued to serve in the side gardens of the city's Plaza de Armas while the management was kept in the underground of the destroyed building. Between February 1929 and April 1930 the headquarters were rebuilt, designed by the brothers Carlos and Alberto Cruz Eyzaguirre and built by the company Forteza Hermanos. The 1939 Chillán earthquake
The 1939 Chillán earthquake occurred in south-central Chile on 24 January with a surface wave magnitude of 8.3 and a maximum Mercalli intensity of X (''Extreme''). With a death toll of around 28,000, compared to the 2,231–6,000 (official estima ...
destroyed the Cauquenes branch, which was later rebuilt.[
]
After the end of World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
—and under the management of Pedro Opaso Letelier, who took office of the bank presidency in 1936— a new process of expansion of the bank began, opening a new branch in Talca (in the neighbourhood called "Barrio Estación") in 1946, in Molina in 1947 and installing his first office in Santiago on July 1, 1958 after the Superintendence of Banks and Financial Institutions (SBIF) authorized it for that decision in April 1956. To this opening was added a branch in Constitución (December 1964) and three new branches in the Chilean capital: Arturo Prat (1964), Providencia (1965) and Diagonal Cervantes (1969).[
Towards the end of the 1960s, some of the bank's shareholders were some entrepreneurs in the area, such as Aurelio Fernández Barros, Mario Villalobos Cruz, Víctor Opaso Cousiño, Miguel Calaf Rocosa, Enrique Tigero Caballero, Hernán Cruz Concha and Enrique Burgos Moreira.
For much of its history, the Banco de Talca was characterized for contributing to various advance works for the city and the province, such as the installation of the headquarters of the ]University of Chile
The University of Chile ( es, Universidad de Chile) is a public research university in Santiago, Chile. It was founded on November 19, 1842, and inaugurated on September 17, 1843. in the city (1965), the creation and habilitation of the Museum of Huilquilemu (1975), sponsorship of exhibitions of Chilean painting, the construction of the Lircay Tower —first building of 15 floors in Talca— in 1975, and also granting financing for the preliminary studies and the later creation of the Corporation of Development of the Maule Region.[
]
Nationalization and reprivatization
In 1971 the bank was expropriated by the State through the Corporation for the Promotion of Production (CORFO
The Production Development Corporation (CORFO, from es, Corporación de Fomento de la Producción de Chile) is a Chilean governmental organization that was founded in 1939 by President Pedro Aguirre Cerda to promote economic growth in Chile.
...
). The following year, it acquired all the assets that the First National City Bank
Citibank, N. A. (N. A. stands for " National Association") is the primary U.S. banking subsidiary of financial services multinational Citigroup. Citibank was founded in 1812 as the City Bank of New York, and later became First National City ...
agency owned in Chile, including the 6 branches of the US bank in Santiago (Bandera, Providencia, Estación, San Diego, San Antonio and 21 de Mayo), plus the two Valparaíso
Valparaíso (; ) is a major city, seaport, naval base, and educational centre in the commune of Valparaíso, Chile. "Greater Valparaíso" is the second largest metropolitan area in the country. Valparaíso is located about northwest of Santiago ...
branches and the one that existed in Concepción. After the coup d'état of September 11, 1973, the military dictatorship initiated a process of reprivatization of banking; in November 1975, through a public tender, Corfo sold 89.5% of the capital of the Bank of Talca to 542 natural and legal persons of the Maule Region
The Maule Region ( es, Región del Maule, ) is one of Chile's 16 first order administrative divisions. Its capital is Talca. The region derives its name from the Maule River which, running westward from the Andes, bisects the region and spans a ...
.
In March 1975, the Banco de Talca created a Department of Foreign Trade, where import and export procedures were handled, as well as providing technical reports on the subject. The following year he created an Agricultural Management, destined to deliver credits for this productive sector.[
Since the mid-1970s, the bank began a new expansion process, opening branches in ]Iquique
Iquique () is a port city and commune in northern Chile, capital of both the Iquique Province and Tarapacá Region. It lies on the Pacific coast, west of the Pampa del Tamarugal, which is part of the Atacama Desert. It has a population of 191,468 ...
(September 30, 1976) —converting itself to official representatives of the Free Zone—, Arica
Arica ( ; ) is a Communes of Chile, commune and a port city with a population of 222,619 in the Arica Province of northern Chile's Arica y Parinacota Region. It is Chile's northernmost city, being located only south of the border with Peru. The ...
(1977), Curicó
Curicó (), meaning "Black Waters" in Mapudungun (originally meaning "Land of Black Water"), is the capital city of the Curicó Province, part of the Maule Region in Chile's central valley.
The province lies between the provinces of Colcha ...
(1977), Mercado-Centro in Talca (1977), Viña del Mar
Viña del Mar (; meaning "Vineyard of the Sea") is a city and commune on central Chile's Pacific coast. Often referred to as ("The Garden City"), Viña del Mar is located within the Valparaíso Region, and it is Chile's fourth largest city w ...
(1978), Antofagasta
Antofagasta () is a port city in northern Chile, about north of Santiago. It is the capital of Antofagasta Province and Antofagasta Region. According to the 2015 census, the city has a population of 402,669.
After the Spanish American wars ...
(1978), Faro de Apoquindo (1978) and Macul (1979), these last two in Santiago.[
]
In 1979, the Calaf-Danioni group acquired 65% of the ownership of the Banco de Talca. On April 19 of that year, Carlos Massad
Carlos Alberto Massad Abud (29 August 1932) was a Chilean politician and economist who served as minister and was two-times president of the Central Bank of Chile.
In 1982, he was involved in the economic scandal of the Bank of Talca alongside S ...
joined the board of directors —he was named president of the bank on June 22— and Sebastián Piñera
Miguel Juan Sebastián Piñera Echenique OMCh (; born 1 December 1949) is a Chilean billionaire businessman and politician who served as president of Chile from 2010 to 2014 and again from 2018 to 2022.
The son of a Christian Democratic polit ...
was appointed general manager —who was replaced on November 1, 1980 by Emiliano Figueroa Sandoval—. The bank opened its last branches in Osorno, Universidad de Chile
The University of Chile ( es, Universidad de Chile) is a public research university in Santiago, Chile. It was founded on November 19, 1842, and inaugurated on September 17, 1843. and Escuela Militar in 1980 —along with the remodeling of its branches in Ahumada, Curicó and Parral— and Rancagua
Rancagua () is a city and commune in central Chile and part of the Rancagua conurbation. It is the capital of the Cachapoal Province and of the O'Higgins Region, located south of the national capital of Santiago.
It was originally named Santa ...
, Valdivia
Valdivia (; Mapuche: Ainil) is a city and commune in southern Chile, administered by the Municipality of Valdivia. The city is named after its founder Pedro de Valdivia and is located at the confluence of the Calle-Calle, Valdivia, and Cau-Cau R ...
and Orrego Luco in 1981.[
During the late 1970s and early 1980s, the Banco de Talca introduced new products and services in its offices: in April 1979 it was one of the first banks in Chile to operate ]Visa
Visa most commonly refers to:
*Visa Inc., a US multinational financial and payment cards company
** Visa Debit card issued by the above company
** Visa Electron, a debit card
** Visa Plus, an interbank network
*Travel visa, a document that allows ...
credit cards for current accounts, and the following year it became the first Chilean bank to offer the International Visa card. In May 1980 it began to operate Savings Accounts for the Term and in that same year it restructured its Branch Division, creating 4 areas: North Area, V Region, Metropolitan Area and South Area, in order to decentralize the bank's operations. By December of that year the Banco de Talca had 33 offices (13 in Santiago and 20 in the rest of the country).
Intervention and settlement
The Ministry of Finance announced the intervention of the bank —as well as that of Banco Linares, Banco de Fomento de Valparaíso
Banco may refer to:
Places
* Banc (Barcelona Metro), also called Banco, a closed metro stop on the Barcelona metro
* Banco, Virginia, an unincorporated community
* Banco, West Virginia, an unincorporated community
* Banco National Park, a nation ...
and Banco Español-Chile and the financial companies Cash, Compañía General Financiera, Financiera de Capitales and Finansur— on October 30, 1981, becoming effective on November 2 of the same year. Among the bank's main debtors at the time of its intervention were some companies of the same Calaf-Danioni group (Manufacturas Yarza SA, Calaf SACI, Cooperativa Agrícola y Forestal Copihue, Inversiones Río Claro, Agrícola y Forestal Los Quillayes, Forestal Las Cañas, Compañía de Consumidores de Gas de Talca, Inmobiliaria Las Terrazas de Providencia and Aceitera Talca) as well as other organizations, such as Envases del Pacífico, Envases Modernos, Comercial Importex, Banco de Fomento del Bío-Bío, Banco de Fomento de Valparaíso and Agroindustrias Talca.
The Bank of Talca was finally liquidated by the SBIF on April 15, 1982 and acquired by the Spanish bank Centrobanco —later called Central Hispano, whose capital belongs today to Banco Santander Chile
Banco Santander-Chile is the largest bank in Chile by loans and deposits. The bank has 504 branches network. It is a subsidiary of the Santander Group. Its main competitors are Banco de Chile
Banco de Chile ( en, Bank of Chile), is a Chilean b ...
— for a total of 17 billion pesos at the time. The bank also delivered part of the payment to the Central Bank of Chile
The Central Bank of Chile ( es, Banco Central de Chile) is the central bank of Chile. It was established in 1925 and is incorporated into the current Chilean Constitution as an autonomous institution of constitutional rank. Its monetary policy is ...
for 115 paintings from its art gallery to settle a portion of its debts.
After its disappearance, several of the controllers of the Banco de Talca were prosecuted for fraud and infractions of the General Banking Law; on July 12, 1982, the interim administration of the bank in liquidation (appointed by the SBIF) filed a complaint against several executives: that same day Miguel Calaf and Alberto Danioni were arrested —they were declared inmates five days later— while on August 27 of the same year, Sebastián Piñera, Carlos Massad and Emiliano Figueroa Sandoval were convicted, their arrest warrants being annulled by the Supreme Court
A supreme court is the highest court within the hierarchy of courts in most legal jurisdictions. Other descriptions for such courts include court of last resort, apex court, and high (or final) court of appeal. Broadly speaking, the decisions of ...
on September 20, after they filed a recurso de amparo
In most legal systems of the Spanish-speaking world, the writ of ("writ of protection"; also called , "appeal for protection", or , "judgement for protection") is a remedy for the protection of constitutional rights, found in certain jurisdicti ...
and during that period they were not able to be located the authorities for his arrest.
2009 political affair
At the end of July 2009, the former Minister of Justice of the Pinochet regime
Augusto José Ramón Pinochet Ugarte (, , , ; 25 November 1915 – 10 December 2006) was a Chilean general who ruled Chile from 1973 to 1990, first as the leader of the Military Junta of Chile from 1973 to 1981, being declared President of ...
, Mónica Madariaga, once again brought to light the bankruptcy of the Banco de Talca in an electoral environment, when Sebastián Piñera was running for president. These statements implied the crossing of opinions between different personalities. The press insisted on interviewing police, judges and politicians, although in the end the scandal was aimed at questioning the candidate's money in an environment close to the December 2009 election.
Sebastián Piñera, who has denied that he was a fugitive from justice, in his defense accused Detective Nelson Rivera, who tried to stop him in 1982, noting that the report the police had made was false. Rivera then filed a complaint against Piñera in the 8th Court of Guarantee of Santiago, which fixed a summons to the candidate for December 17 (days after the presidential election
A presidential election is the election of any head of state whose official title is President.
Elections by country
Albania
The president of Albania is elected by the Assembly of Albania who are elected by the Albanian public.
Chile
The pre ...
) to which Piñera did not attend because of "previous commitments" of his campaign agenda, motivating the protest of his opponents.
Presidents
References
External links
{{Authority control
Banks of Chile
Political scandals in Chile
Banks established in 1884
Banks disestablished in 1982