In this congeries of banks the Argentine is represented by two great establishments: one of these, the _Banco de la Nacion Argentina_, is a State institution which, in addition to the business transacted with the Government, runs cash and deposit departments like other banks; the other is the _Banco de la Provincia de Buenos Ayres_, whose origin was in the reconstruction of the historic bank of the same name, the collapse of which was provoked by the terrible financial crisis of 1890. The excellent results of the last three years which we shall presently consider in detail, allow us to predict a brilliant future for this institution.
We shall give, in the following table, a list of these banks, in the order of their establishment, with details as to their capital, reserves, transactions, and dividends.
As lately as the year 1907, it was extremely difficult to obtain exact information as to the operations of financial establishments, as there was no law obliging them to publish periodical statements of their position. From this state of affairs resulted this curious fact: that if one wished to ascertain the situation or study the operations of the English banks, for example——establishments which effected their business transactions by the aid of funds deposited by inhabitants of the Argentine——one was forced to resort to the records of the London Stock Exchange, in order to examine the reports and balance-sheets presented each year by the administrative Boards to the shareholders residing in England. But, very fortunately, thanks to a decision of the ex-Minister of Finance, Dr Eleodoro Lobos, this omission has been remedied, and it has been decreed that all financial establishments must in future supply the Ministry of Finance, during the first days of each month, with an explanatory balance-sheet giving details of their transactions. This information is made public, so that not only the Government, but anyone devoting himself to the study of commercial or financial affairs, may obtain an exact knowledge of the situation of the leading banks, and thence of the market, or indeed of the country in general.
All these banks work with a relatively large capital, which is mostly deposited. To understand the situation we must remember that banks are obliged, in the Argentine, to keep going by their own means, and are not allowed the resource of mobilising their turnover by rediscounting at the Bank of the Nation. The latter, indeed, is rather a competitor than a prop; since it also seeks the custom of private clients. Thus the funds at the disposal of the banks consists of their own capital and their deposit accounts——these latter varying greatly from one period to another——and they cannot benefit by the supplementary force arising from a credit at the National Bank.