The Bank of London and South America Limited (BOLSA; es, Banco de Londres y América del Sur, also known simply as ''Banco de Londres'') was a British bank, which operated in South America between 1923 and 1971.

Origins

The bank's predecessor was incorporated in England on 27 September 1862 as the London, Buenos Ayres and River Plate Bank (''Banco de Londres, Buenos Ayres y Río de la Plata''), originally to operate 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 ...

. The bank soon opened branches elsewhere 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 ...

, and it changed its name in 1865 to the London and River Plate Bank (''Banco de Londres y Río de la Plata''). The bank expanded over the years to have operations in

Uruguay Uruguay (; ), officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay ( es, República Oriental del Uruguay), is a country in South America. It shares borders with Argentina to its west and southwest and Brazil to its north and northeast; while bordering ...

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

and

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east a ...

. In 1918, it was acquired by

Lloyds Bank Lloyds Bank plc is a British retail and commercial bank with branches across England and Wales. It has traditionally been considered one of the " Big Four" clearing banks. Lloyds Bank is the largest retail bank in Britain, and has an exte ...

Limited. In 1923, Lloyds Bank brought about a merger with the separately owned London and Brazilian Bank, to prevent the two banks being in direct competition with each other. The merged bank was renamed as the Bank of London and South America (BOLSA). Lloyds retained a major interest in BOLSA throughout its subsequent history.

History

In 1936, BOLSA took over many of the operations of its chief rival, the

Anglo-South American Bank The Anglo-South American Bank was a British and Argentine bank established with the acquisition of the Anglo-Argentine Bank in 1900 by the Bank of Tarapacá and London. The new bank first took the name of Bank of Tarapacá and Argentina, which i ...

, which had gone into liquidation. The acquisitions included Banco de A. Edwards, one of the largest banks in Chile. In 1958, the bank formed a joint venture with the Bank of Montreal, known as the

Bank of London and Montreal The Bank of London and Montreal Limited was a joint venture between Bank of London and South America (BOLSA), a subsidiary of Lloyds Bank, and Bank of Montreal. It was established in 1958 and headquartered in Nassau, Bahamas. History *1958 Bank ...

(BOLAM), headquartered in Nassau, Bahamas. BOLSA contributed its branches in Central and northern South America to the joint venture. In 1970, BOLSA bought out its joint venture partners, and regained its branches in Central America, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru, but not its branches in

Venezuela Venezuela (; ), officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela ( es, link=no, República Bolivariana de Venezuela), is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many islands and islets in th ...

, which BOLAM had closed in 1965. In 1971, Lloyds Bank bought the controlling interest in BOLSA and merged it with Lloyds Bank Europe to form Lloyds and Bolsa International Bank. This became

Lloyds Bank International Lloyds Bank International is a wholly owned subsidiary of Lloyds Bank Corporate Markets in the United Kingdom, which is in turn part of Lloyds Banking Group, one of the largest banking groups in Europe. Lloyds Bank's overseas expansion began in ...

in 1974 and was merged into Lloyds Bank in 1986.Lloyds Bank (Merger) Act 1985 (cap. 9) Banco de A. Edwards was sold in 1987 to

Midland Bank Midland Bank Plc was one of the Big Four banking groups in the United Kingdom for most of the 20th century. It is now part of HSBC. The bank was founded as the Birmingham and Midland Bank in Union Street, Birmingham, England in August 1836. It ...

, part of HSBC since 1992, and merged into Banco de Chile in 2001.

Headquarters

In 1966, the bank opened a new local headquarters in central Buenos Aires, designed by Argentine architect

Clorindo Testa Clorindo Manuel José Testa (December 10, 1923 – April 11, 2013) was an Italian-Argentine architect and artist. Testa was one of the leaders of the Argentine rationalist movement and one of the pioneers of the brutalist movement in Argen ...

. It is one of the best examples of brutalism in Argentine architecture.

References

External links

* {{Authority control Defunct banks of the United Kingdom Lloyds Banking Group Defunct banks of Argentina British overseas banks Banks established in 1862 Banks disestablished in 1986 1862 establishments in England British companies established in 1862