Banco Santiago del Estero

The Banco Santiago del Estero is the most important financial entity in the Santiago del Estero Province. It is a commercial bank mainly serving the retail financial market, and is also the main financial agent of the State of the province of Santiago del Estero.

Its headquarters are located at Avenida Belgrano 529, City of Santiago del Estero. It also has several payment centers and various branches in the interior of the province, as well as branches in the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires, Córdoba, Catamarca, Tucumán, Salta and Jujuy.

Early years
In 1910, with the installation of the first Spanish Bank of the Río de la Plata and on December 18, 1911, with the immediate local private creation of the then called “Commercial and Edifier Bank of Santiago del Estero”, the province was fully incorporated into the nascent Argentine banking system, through the initiative of a young entrepreneur from Santiago, only 37 years old, Luis Suárez, who together with a group of neighbors founded it with an initial capital of m$n 500,000, which soon had to be expanded to m$n 1 million.

The then governor Manuel Argañaraz created the departmental political headquarters in the interior, but at the same time, the existence of a rooster arena just 1 and a half blocks from the main square was also a problem. Accompanying Luis Suárez in the creation of the first Santiago Bank were personalities such as Baltasar Olaechea y Alcorta, Pablo and Jaime Verdaguer, Dr. David García, Juan Berraondo, Enrique Ballestrini (son), Modesto González, Manuel Suffloni, Augusto Helman, Alfredo Ricci and Manuel Ruiz, among many others.

However, the evolution of the Bank was of such magnitude that, just over a decade after its foundation, already in 1923 and always under the management of Luis Suárez, now supported by the accountant Andrés Pereda, its cash flow was of m$n 35 million annually, approximately 10 million current dollars. It granted credits of 5 to 25 years, mainly for the private construction of homes, which appeared in the Property Registry, from the first day, in the name of the owner of the land.

Post-war crisis
Banco Edificador was able to go through the crisis of the first post-war since 1918, the serious economic crisis of the years 1929 and 1930 forced private shareholders to agree to public capitalization in 1932, under the government of Juan Castro, which transformed it from a private bank into a mixed ownership bank that, through provincial law 1,144 of April 17, was renamed Banco de la Provincia de Santiago del Estero, with an initial capital of m$n 3 million, just over 600,000 current dollars.

That same year, 1932, the Bank made it possible to issue m$n 12 million provincial public debt bonds. In 1936, upon turning 25, its capital had already amounted to m$n 185 million annually, about 47 million current dollars, in cash movements, checking accounts, discounts and bank drafts.

Its board of directors was chaired by Alfredo Ricci and he was accompanied by Edverto de la Vega, José Casanova, Manuel Barthe, Héctor Bonacina, Federico Salaverry, Octavio Latapié and Ramón de la Rúa, among others. In 1935, the Central Bank of Argentina had been created, which reformulated and rebuilt the banking system, greatly weakened by the aforementioned crisis of the years 1929 and 1930.

Nationalization
In 1953, an emblematic year in the capital city of Santiago del Estero, it turned 400 years old and was the headquarters for one day of the National Executive Branch chaired by Juan Domingo Perón, during the governorship of Francisco Javier González, through the sanction of provincial law 2,939, the Bank was transformed again, in terms of organization and ownership.

Now it became an autonomous entity of the local government, calling itself "Bank of the Province of Santiago del Estero". In this condition as an entirely public bank, in 1961 it celebrated its Golden Anniversary, 50 years of continuous operational life, reaching a capital close to m$n 200 million, almost 47 million dollars. , with a 50% contribution provided by the BCRA.

The effect of the inflation tax that, under mixed and public management, could only keep the Bank's capital constant during the 25 years of the period 1936–1961.

First branches
They began to incorporate the first branches in the interior of the province, which followed the main railway lines, such as La Banda, Añatuya, Suncho Corral, Frías, Sumampa and Quimilí, Selva, Bandera, Tintina, were added as mobile agencies of the Bank. Termas de Río Hondo, Pinto, Loreto, Ojo de Agua, Monte Quemado and Nueva Esperanza.

In 1961, already during the governorship of Eduardo Miguel, a special first-class branch of the Banco de la Provincia was opened on central Florida Street in City of Buenos Aires.

In 1971, Banco Provincia, with 340 employees, already had 20 branches in the interior. Fernández, Clodomira, Colonia Dora and Los Juríes had been enabled, in that chronological order. Throughout its first 60 years of life, the Bank had granted loans for a total accumulated amount of more than m$n 9,100 million or ARL 91 million pesos ley (in force between 1970 and 1983).

Privatization and merger
On September 2, 1996, after a national and international public bidding process in which different bidders participated, it was awarded to Grupo Ick and Banco Florencia S.A. control of the entity. The entity was bankrupt, like the province at the time, which came from the social outbreak of Santiagueñazo in 1993 and the Federal Intervention. Then, the group took over the Banco de la Provincia de Santiago del Estero, already under the name Banco de Santiago del Estero S.A., currently known by its acronym BSE.

Some time later, the Banco de Santiago del Estero absorbed Banco Florencia, completing the process that began two years ago with the privatization of Banco Santiago. The Central Bank of Argentina approved the transfer of the provincial entity to its private owners. On that occasion, the monetary authority made the merger of both banks a condition to give its approval.

The operation implies the cessation of activities of Florencia, which began its business in 1978 as a finance company to transform six years later into a bank.

Banco Florencia was owned by the Brunet family (former owners of Algas), which owned more than 83% of the package. The rest is divided among minor shareholders. The entity in turn controls 71.25% of Banco Santiago, which would be capitalized at 6 million dollars. This amount will be integrated periodically (25% has already been disbursed) until the assets rise above 22 million dollars.

Current Events
Mr. Jorge González and Dr. Néstor Carlos Ick † (1937–2023) entity in which he held the presidency of the board of directors and stood out as a member of the executive committee at that time, assumed the commitment to lead the Banco de Santiago del Estero S.A., currently his son Mr. Gustavo Eduardo Ick is the president of the BSE.

Banco Santiago del Estero advanced in a gradual, but very sustained process of regional expansion that leads it to currently have branches and 140 ATMs in 7 provinces of the country such as Santiago del Estero, Tucumán, Autonomous City of Buenos Aires, Córdoba, Catamarca, Salta and Jujuy.