Banco Santander Argentina (formerly Banco Río de la Plata and then Banco Santander Río) is a commercial bank and financial services company and affiliate of the Santander, Cantabria (Spain) based Santander Group. Based in Buenos Aires, its banking operations are the third largest in Argentina, as well as the largest among all privately owned banks in the country.[2]
The bank has 430 branches, 3.5million clients and more than 8,500 employees.
Overview
The "Banco Río de la Plata" (named for the neighboring estuary 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 company established in 1946.[3] Gregorio Pérez Companc, 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.[4]