Banco Hipotecario

Banco Hipotecario S.A.
TypeSociedad Anónima
BCBA:BHIP
IndustryFinancial services
Founded1886 (1886)
HeadquartersBuenos Aires, Argentina
Key people
Eduardo Elsztain (Chairman)
Saúl Zang (Vice president)[1]
ProductsRetail banking
Mortgages
Consumer finance
Credit cards
RevenueIncrease US$ 330 million (2011)[2]
Increase US$ 56 million (2011)[2]
Total assetsIncrease US$ 2.84 billion (2011)[3]
Number of employees
1,892 (2011)[4]
Websitehipotecario.com.ar

Banco Hipotecario S.A. (BCBA: BHIP) Banco Hipotecario (BCBA: BHIP) is a financial institution of Argentina, with majority State participation, holding the status of a corporation (sociedad anónima).[5] It was founded in 1886, under the name Banco Hipotecario Nacional, with the initial objective of granting mortgage loans for home construction.[6][7]

Its privatization and subsequent conversion into a corporation took place in 1997.[8] Through a series of share purchase operations on the stock market, the National State regained the status of majority shareholder in 2005.[9]

History

The first headquarters (today the Central Bank)

On September 24, 1886, during the presidency of Julio Argentino Roca, Law No. 1,804 was enacted, creating the Banco Hipotecario Nacional. It was assigned the essential function of granting loans for home construction with real collateral throughout the territory of the Republic, at low interest and long term, as an integral part of the process of building the Argentine State.[6][10] The aim was for low-income families, who had little possibility of accessing private financing, to obtain credit suited to their income.

The bank continued to grow and, during the administration of President Hipólito Yrigoyen (1916–22), its share of the nation's mortgages doubled to 37%. The headquarters relocated in 1942 from its original, Baroque headquarters in the financial district (transferred to the Central Bank of Argentina) to a larger, Rationalist office building facing Plaza de Mayo. Between 1920 and 1945, it had granted 14,800 loans for the construction of rural and urban housing, totaling 180 million pesos. During the Five-Year Plan proposed by President Juan Perón, it went on to grant 170,000 loans totaling 570 million pesos.[11][12]

Until the enactment of Circular 1050 in 1977, which allowed for the indexing of loans, a large share of its debtors benefited from successive inflationary processes that made their installments negligible, affecting the profitability of its operations.[13][14]

Headquarters until 1997 (today the AFIP revenue agency)

During Raúl Alfonsín’s administration, the Banco Hipotecario Nacional entered a severe financial crisis due to the discretionary granting of loans that were eroded by inflation, prompting the World Bank to recommend its closure in 1987—a proposal which the government rejected, keeping its 24 federal branches open.[15][16] During the government of Raúl Alfonsín, an attempt was made to reduce losses by closing 60% of its branches, from 53 to 24.[17]

In 1997, during the presidency of Carlos Menem, Law No. 24,855 was enacted, declaring Banco Hipotecario "subject to privatization." To this end, it was reorganized as a corporation (sociedad anónima), with all shares handed over to the National State, creating three categories of shares that could be transferred to private capital through public offering.[8] The privatization process was challenged in court. None of these complaints resulted in a conviction.[18] The headquarters was subsequently relocated to Clorindo Testa's Banco de Londres y América del Sur building, one of the country's best-known works of Brutalist architecture.[19]

In 2009, Eduardo Elsztain assumed the presidency of the bank,[20] while then-President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner appointed ANSES Director Diego Bossio to the board of directors, representing the Class "A" shares (those belonging to the National State).[21][22]

As of 2026, the Argentine National State remains the majority shareholder of Banco Hipotecario, holding more than 55% of share capital in aggregate across its various holdings, distributed among different classes of shares. The Ministry of Economy is the largest individual shareholder, holding approximately 44.28% through Class A shares, along with smaller holdings in Classes C and D. The Sustainability Guarantee Fund (Fondo de Garantía de Sustentabilidad), administered by the National Social Security Administration (ANSES), holds around 4.94% of capital in Class D shares. Despite the State's majority stake, operational control and management of the bank rest with Inversiones y Representaciones Sociedad Anónima.[23][24][25]

References

  1. ↑ "Autoridades del Banco". Banco Hipotecario (in Spanish). Retrieved 1 August 2026.
  2. 1 2 "Income Statements: Banco Hipotecario". Bloomberg Businessweek. Archived from the original on 2012-10-11. Retrieved 2012-06-19.
  3. ↑ "Balance Sheet: Banco Hipotecario". Bloomberg Businessweek. Archived from the original on 2012-10-11. Retrieved 2012-06-19.
  4. ↑ "Ranking del Sistema Financiero". ABA. December 2011.
  5. ↑ "InfoLEG – Información Legislativa". InfoLEG (in Spanish). Ministry of Justice of Argentina. Retrieved 1 August 2026.
  6. 1 2 "14 de septiembre de 1886. Se funda el Banco Hipotecario". La Bancaria (in Spanish). 14 September 2022. Retrieved 1 August 2026.
  7. ↑ Riera, Miguel A. "El Banco Hipotecario Nacional como ente financiero de la vivienda social" (PDF). Facultad de Arquitectura y Urbanismo (in Spanish). National University of the Northeast. Retrieved 1 August 2026.
  8. 1 2 "Ley 24.855 — Desarrollo regional y generación de empleo". InfoLEG (in Spanish). Ministry of Justice of Argentina. 2 July 1997. Retrieved 1 August 2026.
  9. ↑ "Banco Hipotecario Nacional: Reestructuración y privatización". Memoria de las Privatizaciones (in Spanish). Ministry of Economy of Argentina. Retrieved 1 August 2026.
  10. ↑ Rock, David. Argentina: 1516-1982. University of California, 1987.
  11. ↑ Aboy, Rosa (2005). Viviendas para el pueblo (in Spanish). Buenos Aires: Fondo de Cultura Económica. p. 75. Retrieved 1 August 2026.
  12. ↑ Gaggero, Horacio and Garro, Alicia. Del trabajo a casa: Politica de vivienda del gobierno peronista.
  13. ↑ Lewis, Paul H. (24 February 1992). The Crisis of Argentine Capitalism. University of North Carolina Press. ISBN 978-0-8078-4356-7. Retrieved 1 August 2026.
  14. ↑ Hadida, Ernesto. "Una pesada herencia". Terra (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 12 October 2007. Retrieved 1 August 2026.
  15. ↑ "La polémica Circular 830 y los créditos blandos del alfonsinismo". Diario El Norte (in Spanish). 4 April 2026. Retrieved 1 August 2026.
  16. ↑ Argentina: From Insolvency to Growth (Report). Washington, D.C.: World Bank. 31 August 1993. Retrieved 1 August 2026.
  17. ↑ Clarín: Banco Hipotecario, la historia secreta de su privatización (in Spanish)
  18. ↑ "Artículo sin título identificado". Diario Judicial (in Spanish). Retrieved 1 August 2026.
  19. ↑ Clarín: crece más la pelea de IRSA y Economía (in Spanish)
  20. ↑ Di Matteo, Lucio (30 April 2009). "Elsztain resiste mayor peso estatal en el Hipotecario". El Cronista (in Spanish). Retrieved 1 August 2026.
  21. ↑ "Un tandilense fue designado por Cristina Kirchner como director del Banco Hipotecario Nacional". El Eco de Tandil (in Spanish). 15 January 2009. Retrieved 1 August 2026.
  22. ↑ "Plan Procrear: Cerca de un millón y medio de consultas por créditos". InfoNews. Archived from the original on 2012-07-28. Retrieved 2012-06-19.
  23. ↑ "Banco Hipotecario: Información financiera" (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 2009-12-27. Retrieved 2009-12-19.
  24. ↑ Archived 2011-07-19 at the Wayback Machine
  25. ↑ estudiommaabogados (2019-07-07). "CREDITO HIPOTECARIO UVA: INFLACION QUE VA A PASAR". ABOGADOS ONLINE (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 2019-08-25. Retrieved 2019-09-03.
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