BBVA Argentina, formerly BBVA Banco Francés, is a financial institution in

Argentina Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...

History

Founded on 14 October 1886, in

Buenos Aires Buenos Aires, controlled by the government of the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires, is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Argentina. It is located on the southwest of the Río de la Plata. Buenos Aires is classified as an Alpha− glob ...

as ''Banco Francés del Río de la Plata'' (), it is the oldest private

bank A bank is a financial institution that accepts Deposit account, deposits from the public and creates a demand deposit while simultaneously making loans. Lending activities can be directly performed by the bank or indirectly through capital m ...

in Argentina. Its Beaux-Arts headquarters, designed by Jorge Bunge, were inaugurated in 1926.

Morgan Guaranty Trust J.P. Morgan & Co. is an American financial institution specialized in investment banking, asset management and private banking founded by financier J. P. Morgan in 1871. Through a series of mergers and acquisitions, the company is now a subsidi ...

acquired a 50% share in the bank in 1968, though the

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...

-based bank sold most of these to Alpargatas, a leading local industrial firm, a decade later. Despite the nation's economic woes during the 1980s, the Banco Francés expanded from 15 branches to 62 during the decade, and entered into a joint venture with

Bankers Trust Company Bankers Trust was a historic American banking organization. The bank merged with Alex. Brown & Sons in 1997 before being acquired by Deutsche Bank in 1999. Deutsche Bank sold the Trust and Custody division of Bankers Trust to State Street Corpo ...

in 1986. Alpargatas sold its stake to local developer

Eduardo Constantini Eduardo Francisco Costantini (born September 17, 1946) is an Argentine real estate developer and businessman and the founder and chairman of the Museum of Latin American Art of Buenos Aires (MALBA). As of September 2024, ''Forbes'' estimated his ...

in 1991, and entered into a second joint venture with

Merrill Lynch Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith Incorporated, doing business as Merrill, and previously branded Merrill Lynch, is an American investment management and wealth management division of Bank of America. Along with BofA Securities, the investm ...

in 1992. In December 1996,

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

's ''Banco Bilbao Vizcaya,'' (now

Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria, S.A. (), better known by its initialism BBVA, is a Spanish multinational financial services company based in Bilbao, with operative offices in Madrid. It is one of the largest financial institutions in the world, ...

), acquired the 99.9% of the common shares of ''Otar S.R.L.'', which was a major shareholder of ''Sud América Inversiones S.A.'', and holder of over 30% of the capital of Banco Francés, hence the BBVA in its name. The bank announced in 2013 it would relocate its headquarters to the Consultatio Tower, in the

Catalinas Norte Catalinas Norte is an important business complex composed of nineteen commercial office buildings and occupied by many leading Argentine companies, foreign subsidiaries, diplomatic offices, and a hotel. It is located in the Retiro, Buenos Aires, ...

office park, upon the Tower's completion in 2015. In 2017, the bank once again relocated its headquarters in the newly built Torre BBVA. In 2019, BBVA unified its brand worldwide and BBVA Francés was renamed BBVA. In 2023, BBVA Argentina had 243 branches (56 of them digital and 24 fully digital), 895 ATMs, and 861 ATSs across the country.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:BBVA Banco Frances Companies listed on the New York Stock Exchange Companies listed on the Buenos Aires Stock Exchange Banks of Argentina Banks established in 1886 Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria 1886 establishments in Argentina Commercial buildings completed in 1926 Buildings and structures in Buenos Aires Companies listed on the Madrid Stock Exchange Argentine subsidiaries of foreign companies