Banco de la Nación Argentina (BNA; ) is a large bank 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 ...

, and the largest in the country's banking sector.

History

The Bank of the Argentine Nation was founded on 18 October 1891 by President Carlos Pellegrini, with the purpose of stabilizing the nation's finances following the Panic of 1890; its first director was Vicente Lorenzo Casares. In its early decades it became a leading financing source for agricultural smallholders, and later for commercial and industrial businesses, as well as handling an array of public sector transactions. The bank's reputation suffered after it was revealed that bribes had been received by the board of directors in 1994 when contacting

IBM International Business Machines Corporation (using the trademark IBM), nicknamed Big Blue, is an American Multinational corporation, multinational technology company headquartered in Armonk, New York, and present in over 175 countries. It is ...

for the supply of computers, software, and communication equipment, becoming a prominent political scandal at the time.

Services

Long a significant supplier of domestic lending in a credit-tight economy, the bank attempted—with only partial success—to revive the local credit market during the tenure of Gabriela Ciganotto, who stated the main goal of the bank in her inauguration speech in 2006 as "putting he bankat the service of production, especially small and medium businesses, and not of speculation." the bank ranked 278th in the world in terms of tier one capital (

US$ The United States dollar (Currency symbol, symbol: Dollar sign, $; ISO 4217, currency code: USD) is the official currency of the United States and International use of the U.S. dollar, several other countries. The Coinage Act of 1792 introdu ...

1.623 billion, or 11% of deposits in December 2006) according to a global survey of top 1000 world banks carried out by

The Banker ''The Banker'' is an English-language monthly international financial affairs publication owned by '' The Financial Times'' and edited in London, United Kingdom. The magazine was first published in January 1926 through founding editor Brendan ...

, a

Financial Times The ''Financial Times'' (''FT'') is a British daily newspaper printed in broadsheet and also published digitally that focuses on business and economic Current affairs (news format), current affairs. Based in London, the paper is owned by a Jap ...

publication. Domestically, it has long been Argentina's largest bank; it maintained 626 branches, US$30 billion in deposits (28% of the domestic total), and a loan portfolio of US$15 billion (20% of the domestic total). Its lending profile is less oriented toward consumer or mortgage lending than other leading banks in Argentina; one third of its outstanding credit is to the public sector and 80% of the remainder is allocated to commercial loans. The public bank is giving to the people divers credit such as UVA credit for house mortgage.

Headquarters

The bank's headquarters are located in the San Nicolás neighborhood of Buenos Aires on the site of the Teatro Colón's first building, bought by the national government in 1888 and later designated as main offices of the recently founded institution. The edifice was remodeled in 1910 by architect Adolfo Büttner to better suit its new role as a bank venue. In 1938 architect

Alejandro Bustillo Alejandro Bustillo (18 March 1889 – 3 November 1982) was an Argentine painter and architect who designed numerous buildings including iconic landmarks in Buenos Aires, Mar del Plata, and Bariloche. Biography Born in Buenos Aires, son of María ...

presented a new design for a much larger building in a revivalist, French-influenced, Monumental Neoclassical style. These new headquarters were built in two stages between 1940 and 1955. This building is also home to the Alejandro Bustillo Art Gallery, established in 1971, as well as to a historic and

numismatic Numismatics is the study or collection of currency, including coins, tokens, paper money, medals, and related objects. Specialists, known as numismatists, are often characterized as students or collectors of coins, but the discipline also inclu ...

museum. Banco Nación (ca. 1880).jpg, Original building of the Teatro Colón c. 1880 Banco Nación (ca. 1921).jpg, Adolfo Büttner's remodel in 1910 Buenos Aires-2672f-Banco de la Nación Argentina.jpg, Current Neoclassical building by

Branches

the bank maintained 626 branches throughout Argentina, and 15 more overseas ( Santa Cruz de la Sierra, Bolivia;

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro, or simply Rio, is the capital of the Rio de Janeiro (state), state of Rio de Janeiro. It is the List of cities in Brazil by population, second-most-populous city in Brazil (after São Paulo) and the Largest cities in the America ...

and

São Paulo, Brazil SAO or Sao may refer to: Places * Sao civilisation, in Middle Africa from 6th century BC to 16th century AD * Sao, a town in Boussé Department, Burkina Faso * Serb Autonomous Regions (''Srpska autonomna oblast'', SAO), during the breakup of Yu ...

; Georgetown, Cayman Islands;

Santiago, Chile Santiago (, ; ), also known as Santiago de Chile (), is the capital and largest city of Chile and one of the largest cities in the Americas. It is located in the country's central valley and is the center of the Santiago Metropolitan Regi ...

;

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

;

Tokyo Tokyo, officially the Tokyo Metropolis, is the capital of Japan, capital and List of cities in Japan, most populous city in Japan. With a population of over 14 million in the city proper in 2023, it is List of largest cities, one of the most ...

;

Panama City Panama City, also known as Panama, is the capital and largest city of Panama. It has a total population of 1,086,990, with over 2,100,000 in its metropolitan area. The city is located at the Pacific Ocean, Pacific entrance of the Panama Canal, i ...

; Asunción, Paraguay;

Madrid Madrid ( ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in Spain, most populous municipality of Spain. It has almost 3.5 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 7 million. It i ...

;

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

;

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

and

Miami Miami is a East Coast of the United States, coastal city in the U.S. state of Florida and the county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade County in South Florida. It is the core of the Miami metropolitan area, which, with a populat ...

; Montevideo, Uruguay; and

Caracas, Venezuela Caracas ( , ), officially Santiago de León de Caracas (CCS), is the capital and largest city of Venezuela, and the center of the Metropolitan Region of Caracas (or Greater Caracas). Caracas is located along the Guaire River in the northern p ...

), along with a representative office in

Porto Alegre Porto Alegre (, ; , ; ) is the capital and largest city of the Brazilian Federative units of Brazil, state of Rio Grande do Sul. Its population of roughly 1.4 million inhabitants (2022) makes it the List of largest cities in Brazil, 11th-most p ...

, Brazil. It employed 16,519 people in Argentina, and more than 200 abroad. Bahía Blanca- banco nación.jpg,

Bahía Blanca Bahía Blanca (; English: ''White Bay''), colloquially referred to by its own local inhabitants as simply Bahía, is a city in the Buenos Aires Province, Buenos Aires province of Argentina, centered on the northwestern end of the eponymous Blanc ...

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 ...

Banco Nación, Colón.jpg, Colón, Entre Ríos Junín_Banco_Nación_808.jpg, Junín, Buenos Aires Edificio Banco Nación Argentina.jpg, Balcarce, Buenos Aires Banco Nación Resistencia.jpg, Resistencia, Chaco Banco Nacion - Trelew.JPG, Trelew, Chubut Banco_de_la_Nación_Argentina_en_San_Ramón_de_la_Nueva_Orán.JPG, Orán,

Salta Salta () is the capital and largest city in the Provinces of Argentina, Argentine province of Salta Province, the same name. With a population of 618,375 according to the 2010 census, it is also the List of cities in Argentina, 7th most-populous ...

Banco de la Nación Argentina.jpg,

La Plata La Plata () is the capital city of Buenos Aires province, Argentina. According to the 2022 Argentina census, census, the La Plata Partido, Partido has a population of 772,618 and its metropolitan area, the Greater La Plata, has 938,287 inhabit ...

, Buenos Aires

References

External links