Banco Santander Argentina (formerly Banco Río de la Plata and then Banco Santander Río) is a

commercial bank A commercial bank is a financial institution which accepts deposits from the public and gives loans for the purposes of consumption and investment to make profit. It can also refer to a bank, or a division of a large bank, which deals with co ...

and financial services company and affiliate of the

Santander, Cantabria Santander () is the capital of the autonomous community and historical region of Cantabria situated on the north coast of Spain. It is a port city located east of Gijón and west of Bilbao with a population of 172,000 (2017). It is believed ...

(Spain) based

Santander Group Banco Santander, S.A., doing business as Santander Group (, , Spanish: ), is a Spanish multinational financial services company based in Madrid and Santander in Spain. Additionally, Santander maintains a presence in all global financial centre ...

. Based in

Buenos Aires Buenos Aires ( or ; ), officially the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires ( es, link=no, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires), is the capital and primate city of Argentina. The city is located on the western shore of the Río de la Plata, on South ...

, its banking operations are the third largest in

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...

, as well as the largest among all privately owned banks in the country.

Overview

The "Banco Río de la Plata" (named for the neighboring

estuary An estuary is a partially enclosed coastal body of brackish water with one or more rivers or streams flowing into it, and with a free connection to the open sea. Estuaries form a transition zone between river environments and maritime environm ...

of the same name) was established on May 14, 1968, via the acquisition of the Banco del Este by Pecom, a private holding company owned by the Pérez Companc family. The Pérez Compancs had established themselves in the Argentine business world relatively recently, through the success of the Compania Naviera Pérez Companc, a

shipping Freight transport, also referred as ''Freight Forwarding'', is the physical process of transporting commodities and merchandise goods and cargo. The term shipping originally referred to transport by sea but in American English, it has been ...

company established in 1946.

Gregorio Pérez Companc Gregorio Pérez Companc (born Jorge Gregorio Bazán; August 23, 1934) also known as "Don Gregorio" or "Goyo," is an Argentine businessman and one of Argentina's wealthiest individuals, with an estimated net worth of US$2.5 billion as of August 20 ...

, the adoptive heir to the helm of the family conglomerate, purchased the bank from the Pérez Companc Foundation (led by his sister, Alicia) in 1993. Edificio Banco Rio desde Plaza de Mayo

Pérez Companc, for whom Banco Río de la Plata financed a number of acquisitions during President Carlos Menem's

privatization Privatization (also privatisation in British English) can mean several different things, most commonly referring to moving something from the public sector into the private sector. It is also sometimes used as a synonym for deregulation when ...

drive (for significant stakes in

Telecom Argentina Telecom Argentina S.A. is the major local telephone company for the northern part of Argentina, including the whole of the city of Buenos Aires. Briefly known as ''Sociedad Licenciataria Norte S.A.'', it quickly changed its name, and is usually kn ...

, freight rail carrier Ferroexpreso Pampeano, electric distributor

Transener Transener ( BCBATRAN is the leading Argentine company in the transmission of extra high voltage electric power. The company owns the national extra high voltage transmission network, comprising almost 8,800 kilometers (5,500 mi) of transmiss ...

, gas distributor TGS, and numerous others) ultimately sold a controlling stake in the bank (35%, with an option to buy for another 15%) to

Grupo Santander Banco Santander, S.A., doing business as Santander Group (, , Spanish: ), is a Spanish multinational financial services company based in Madrid and Santander in Spain. Additionally, Santander maintains a presence in all global financial centre ...

in May 1997 for US$1.1 billion, upon which it was renamed ''Banco Río'', and listed in the

Buenos Aires Stock Exchange The Buenos Aires Stock Exchange (BCBA; es, Bolsa de Comercio de Buenos Aires) is the organization responsible for the operation of Argentina's primary stock exchange located at Buenos Aires CBD. Founded in 1854, it is the successor to the ''Banco ...

. Its most important acquisition during the partnership with Santander was that of Banco Tornquist, among the most traditional names in Argentine banking. Pérez Companc sold his remaining 18.5% share in February 2001 to Merrill Lynch,''Latin CEO'': Merrill Lynch has agreed to purchase 18.5 percent of Banco Río de la Plata
/ref> which later sold their stake to Santander. Santander Argentina is a majority-owned subsidiary of the Santander Group through its

holding company A holding company is a company whose primary business is holding a controlling interest in the securities of other companies. A holding company usually does not produce goods or services itself. Its purpose is to own shares of other companies ...

, ABLASA, with 79% of its equity, and 99.3% of its outstanding shares. Its services include retail banking, debit and credit cards, consumer and commercial loans, mortgages, fixed-term deposits, money transfers, cash management, and other banking operations processing services to businesses and individuals, as well as to

small and medium businesses Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) or small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) are businesses whose personnel and revenue numbers fall below certain limits. The abbreviation "SME" is used by international organizations such as the World Bank ...

. Santander Seguros is the bank's

insurance Insurance is a means of protection from financial loss in which, in exchange for a fee, a party agrees to compensate another party in the event of a certain loss, damage, or injury. It is a form of risk management, primarily used to hedge ...

arm, and Santander Sociedad de Bolsa, a

brokerage house A broker is a person or firm who arranges transactions between a buyer and a seller for a commission when the deal is executed. A broker who also acts as a seller or as a buyer becomes a principal party to the deal. Neither role should be confu ...

, its sole subsidiary. The bank also has a majority stake in

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 ...

Argentina, Gire (a

wire transfer Wire transfer, bank transfer, or credit transfer, is a method of electronic funds transfer from one person or entity to another. A wire transfer can be made from one bank account to another bank account, or through a transfer of cash at a cash ...

service), Banelco ( ATM), and Interbanking (an

offshore banking An offshore bank is a bank regulated under international banking license (often called offshore license), which usually prohibits the bank from establishing any business activities in the jurisdiction of establishment. Due to less regulation and ...

unit), among others. The bank, maintains deposits of around US$7.7 billion (nearly 7% of the total), and a lending portfolio of US$6.4 billion (8% of the total); the 3.5 million Santander Argentina

credit card A credit card is a payment card issued to users (cardholders) to enable the cardholder to pay a merchant for goods and services based on the cardholder's accrued debt (i.e., promise to the card issuer to pay them for the amounts plus the o ...

s (a 13% market share) make it a close second as the largest issuer of these in Argentina, next to Galicia Financial Group. The bank operates 330 branches nationwide, and employs over 6,000; its network of Banelco ATMs, totaling over 2,000, is the most extensive in the country.

References

External links

Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Banco Santander Rio Banks of Argentina Banks established in 1968 1968 establishments in Argentina