Citibank Argentina is a

commercial bank A commercial bank is a financial institution that accepts deposits from the public and gives loans for the purposes of consumption and investment to make a profit. It can also refer to a bank or a division of a larger bank that deals with whol ...

and financial services company and a subsidiary of

Citigroup Citigroup Inc. or Citi (Style (visual arts), stylized as citi) is an American multinational investment banking, investment bank and financial services company based in New York City. The company was formed in 1998 by the merger of Citicorp, t ...

. It currently provides institutional services. In 2016, its retail operations were sold to Banco Santander Río.

Overview

Citibank Argentina was established in 1914 as the Buenos Aires branch of the

National City Bank of New York Citibank, N.A. ("N. A." stands for "National bank (United States), National Association"; stylized as citibank) is the primary U.S. banking subsidiary of Citigroup, a financial services multinational corporation, multinational corporation. Ci ...

, and the first of any United States bank in Argentina. The bank remained a secondary name in Argentine banking; but earned renown for the quality of its services: its Paylink payment processing network made it the first bank in Argentina to earn an

ISO 9000 The ISO 9000 family is a set of international standards for Quality (business), quality management systems. It was developed in March 1987 by International Organization for Standardization. The goal of these standards is to help organizations en ...

(1997), and in 2002, Citiservice y Citiphone Banking earned the institution an ISO 9002 certification.Citi en Argentina
The president of Citicorp Argentina during the 1990s, H. Richard Handley, had been raised in Argentina with the chairman of Citigroup at the time, John S. Reed, and obtained his support for the bank's lucrative participation in the 1990 sale of the state telephone concern ENTel. Under bank president Carlos Fedrigotti, the bank acquired Buenos Airesbased Banco Mayo in 1998, stabilizing the insolvent institution's finances, and doubling Citibank's network. Losses registered during the

1998–2002 Argentine great depression The 1998–2002 Argentine great depression was an economic depression in Argentina, which began in the third quarter of 1998 and lasted until the second quarter of 2002. It followed fifteen years of Economic history of Argentina#Stagnation (197 ...

prompted an investigation in 2004 by the

U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission The United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is an independent agency of the United States federal government, created in the aftermath of the Wall Street crash of 1929. Its primary purpose is to enforce laws against market m ...

. In 1999, the division acquired Provencred; it was sold to Banco Comafi in 2009. In April 2017, its retail division was sold to Banco Santander Río. At that time, the bank had US$1.4 billion in assets and provided credit cards, personal loans, deposit accounts, and a retail brokerage business.

Headquarters

The headquarters of Citibank Argentina, at Bartolomé Mitre 502, are in the heart of the Buenos Aires financial district, and face the offices of the

Bank of the Province of Buenos Aires The Bank of the Province of Buenos Aires (), better known as Banco Provincia, is a publicly owned bank in Argentina and the second-largest in the country by value of assets and deposits. History The progressive Governor of the Province of Bueno ...

and Banco Santander Río, two of its largest competitors. The building, notable for its

Art Deco Art Deco, short for the French (), is a style of visual arts, architecture, and product design that first Art Deco in Paris, appeared in Paris in the 1910s just before World War I and flourished in the United States and Europe during the 1920 ...

façade and main hall, was designed by Luis Aberastain Oro and Lyman Dudley, and completed in 1929. The building was also known in its early decades for the ''Club Americano'', a

social club A social club or social organization may be a group of people or the place where they meet, generally formed around a common interest, occupation or activity with in an organizational association known as a Club (organization), club. Exampl ...

located on the top floor, and popular with Buenos Aires' sizable American expatriate community.''Nuestra Arquitectura'' (January 1930): El nuevo edificio del National City Bank of New York.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Citibank Argentina Banks of Argentina Banks established in 1914 Citigroup Commercial buildings completed in 1929 Buildings and structures in Buenos Aires 1914 establishments in Argentina Argentine subsidiaries of foreign companies