The "Banco Río de la Plata" 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. Gregorio Pérez Companc, the adoptive heir to the helm of the family conglomerate, purchased the bank from the Pérez Companc Foundation in 1993. Pérez Companc, for whom Banco Río de la Plata financed a number of acquisitions during President Carlos Menem's privatization drive ultimately sold a controlling stake in the bank to Grupo Santander in May 1997 for US$1.1 billion, upon which it was renamed Banco Río, and listed in the Buenos Aires Stock Exchange. Its most important acquisition during the partnership with Santander was that of Banco Tornquist, among the most traditional names in Argentine banking. Pérez Companc sold his remaining 18.5% share in February 2001 to Merrill Lynch, which later sold their stake to Santander. Santander Argentina is a majority-owned subsidiary of the Santander Group through its holding company, ABLASA, with 79% of its equity, and 99.3% of its outstanding shares. Its services include retail banking, debit and credit cards, consumer and commercial loans, mortgages, fixed-term deposits, money transfers, cash management, and other banking operations processing services to businesses and individuals, as well as to small and medium businesses. Santander Seguros is the bank's insurance arm, and Santander Sociedad de Bolsa, a brokerage house, its sole subsidiary. The bank also has a majority stake in Visa Argentina, Gire, Banelco, and Interbanking, among others. The bank, maintains deposits of around US$7.7 billion, and a lending portfolio of US$6.4 billion ; the 3.5 million Santander Argentina credit cards make it a close second as the largest issuer of these in Argentina, next to Galicia Financial Group. The bank operates 330 branches nationwide, and employs over 6,000; its network of Banelco ATMs, totaling over 2,000, is the most extensive in the country.
