Anglo-South American Bank

The Anglo-South American Bank was a British and Argentine bank established with the acquisition of the Anglo-Argentine Bank in 1900 by the Bank of Tarapacá and London. The new bank first took the name of Bank of Tarapacá and Argentina, which it changed in 1907 to Anglo-South American Bank.

A partnership led by John Thomas North, a prominent British investor, became interested in Chile’s expanding nitrate industry, and founded the Bank of Tarapacá and London in 1888; Chile had annexed the Peruvian Province of Tarapacá in 1883, at the conclusion of the War of the Pacific. Later, the bank added the coffee and cocoa business to its interests. A part of the vast financial network supporting the British Empire, it was an overseas bank with its head office in London, and the bulk of its operations abroad.

By the turn of the century, the bank was looking for opportunities outside Chile. It was interested in Buenos Aires, but four British banks were already there, which meant that a new entrant would have difficulty breaking into the market. The Bank of Tarapaca and London therefore decided that it would buy the smallest of the British banks, the Anglo-Argentine Bank, which had been established in 1889 and which had a branch in Buenos Aires and another in Montevideo, Uruguay. The Bank of Tarapacá and Argentina carved out a niche in business with Belgium, cooperating with Belgian banks and securing accounts from Belgian firms. It also had a branch in Germany and gained an account at the Bank of England.

In 1910, the Bank acquired a minority stake in Commercial Bank of Spanish America, acquiring control in 1917, but operating it separately. The Commercial Bank traced its ancestry through the Cortés Commercial and Banking Company back to Banco de Nicaragua, founded in Managua in 1888. The Banco de Nicaragua was engaged in financing the coffee trade. The bank registered in England in 1893, changing its name to London Bank of Central America. In 1891, Banco Particular de El Salvador (est. 1885 in El Salvador), merged with the branch there of London Bank of Central America under the name Banco Salvadoreño; today, this bank is HSBC El Salvador, SA, part of the HSBC group. In 1904 the London Bank of Central America merged with the firm of Enrique Cortés and Company and became the Cortés Commercial and Banking Company. Eventually, in 1911, the Board of Directors changed the name to the Commercial Bank of Spanish America.

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