BBVA Banco Francés

BBVA Banco Francés S.A.

Type	Sociedad Anónima
Traded as	BCBA: FRAN NYSE: BFR BMAD: XBRF
Industry	Finance and Insurance
Founded	(1886), as Banco Francés del Río de la Plata
Headquarters	Buenos Aires, Argentina
Key people	Jorge Carlos Bledel, (CEO)
Products	Financial Services
Revenue	US$ 1.0 Billion (2010)
Net income	US$ 307.8 Million (2010)
Total assets	US$ 8.1 Billion (2010)
Parent	BBVA
Website	www.bancofrances.com.ar

BBVA Banco Francés (BCBA: FRAN / NYSE: BFR / BMAD: XBRF) is a financial institution in Argentina.

History

Headquarters in Buenos Aires (1926)

Founded on October 14, 1886, in Buenos Aires as Banco Francés del Río de la Plata (English: French Bank of the Silver River), it is the oldest private bank in Argentina. Morgan Guaranty Trust acquired a 50% share in the bank in 1968, though the New York-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 had entered into a joint venture with Bankers Trust Company in 1986. Alpargatas sold its stake to local developer Eduardo Constantini in 1991, and entered into a second joint venture with Merrill Lynch in 1992.

In December 1996, Spain's Banco Bilbao Vizcaya (now Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria) 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.

BBVA is the third-largest bank in Argentina, with deposts of US$5 billion and a lending porfolio of US$3.5 billion (a roughly 7% domestic share in both areas). It maintains 630 branches in Argentina and employs around 4,300 staff.

External links

• (Spanish) Official site
• (Spanish) BBVA Official site