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The story
Banesco is one of the first Venezuelan banks holding only Venezuelan capital. It was founded in 1977 as the Banco Agroindustrial Venezolano (Venezuelan Agroindustrial Bank), until it changed its name to Banco Financiero (Financial Bank) in 1987. In 1992, after changing their name to Bancentro, the bank was acquired by the Banesco Financial Organization, the banking division came to dominate the company and was combined with the other divisions to form a banco universal (universal bank) (i.e. a bank that competes in all banking sectors like commercial banking, investment banking, lending, etc.).
Banesco Banco Universal was first founded as a brokerage house, in 1986, under the name of Escotet Casa de Bolsa. It started working on the financial industry in 1992, after the acquisition and takeover of a regional bank named Grupo Bancentro, that after this, obtained the name Grupo Financiero Banesco (Banesco Financial Group). Since then, the founders of this institution have emerged other banking business with their own, turning them into Banesco Banco Universal in 2002.
In December 2016, the Supreme Court of Venezuela ordered the seizure of assets from Banesco—amounting to over $7.7 million—due to a breach of a mandate agreement and a claim for damages dating back to October 2015. Shortly after, the bank announced that it would pay the required sum.
The most remarkable facts in Banesco's history are as it follows:
1986 – Casa de Bolsa Escotet Valores, brokerage house was founded.
1991–1992 – The company changed its name to Banesco Casa de Bolsa after buying Grupo de Empresas Bancentro (a banking group that owned other banking business, including Banco Financiero bank, that changed its name in 1990).
1992–1993 – After changing its commercial name, the companies under Grupo Bancentro identified themselves as Banesco Banco Comercial, Banesco Banco Hipotecario (for mortgages services), Banesco Fondo de Activos Líquidos and Banesco Arrendamiento Financiero. Additionally, Banesco Fondo Mutual, Banesco Sociedad Administradora de Fondos Mutuales, Banesco Sociedad Financiera, Banesco Seguros, Banesco Banco Internacional Puerto Rico, Banesco Banco Internacional Panamá and Banesco Mercado de Capitales were created. Thus, the expansion of this banking business started to happen into new frontiers.
1997 – The Emergency Financial Assistance approved the merging between Banesco Comercial, Banesco Arrendamiento Financiero and Banesco Fondo de Activos Líquidos. That same year, the Banking Superintendence authorized Banesco Comercial C.A. to start working as an international bank, called Banesco Banco Universal. Its website is launched for the first time.
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1997 – Banesco bought five small banking businesses, Bancarios, El Porvenir, La Industrial and Caja Popular.
1998 – The Emergency Financial Assistance approved the unification of the small banking businesses bought by Banesco, now known by the name Caja Familia Entidad de Ahorro y Préstamo.
2000 – On 23 March 2000 the merging from La Primera Entidad de Ahorro y Préstamo to Caja Familia Entidad de Ahorro y Préstamo got approved.
2001 – During this year, the biggest and most important merging between banking businesses in Venezuela happened, Caja Familia Entidad de Ahorro y Préstamo, Banco Unión (founded in 1946), Crédito Unión C.A and Banesco Inmuebles became Unibanca Banco Universal. The merging took place on 12 February 2001.
2002 – The merging process between Banesco and Unibanca finishes, turning into Banesco Banco Universal, adopting Unibanca's old logo. Banesco starts to become the most important bank on private banking in Venezuela.
Internationalization
The internactonalization process started in 1992–1993, with the founding of the bank in Panama and in Puerto Rico, each one with an international operating license. Since then, its presence on international banking markets has increased and reached the United States (only in Florida), Panama, Dominican Republic, Colombia and Spain. It has been considered to grow even bigger in Latin America.
From Wikipedia’s article on Banesco, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.4