The Banking Regulation Review, Ninth Edition – ARGENTINA
THE BANKING REGULATION REVIEW, NINTH EDITION – CHAPTER 2 by Pablo José Torretta and Ivana Inés Grossi.
The Argentine financial system is currently composed of 63 banks and 15 financial entities (other than banks). In accordance with the last survey published by the Argentine Central Bank (BCRA), the top five financial institutions – in consideration of their total assets – are the following:
a– Banco de la Nación Argentina, whose asset in 2017 rose to 667,306.3 million Argentine pesos;
b- Banco Santander Rio SA, whose assets in 2017 were worth 288,801.1 million Argentine pesos;
c– Banco de la Provincia de Buenos Aires, which had assets worth 260,557.4 million Argentine pesos in 2017;
d– Banco de Galicia y Buenos Aires SA, whose assets were worth 230,208.7 millions Argentine pesos in 2017; and
e– BBVA Banco Frances SA, whose assets in 2017 rose to 195,663.3 million Argentine pesos.
The financial system in Argentina is working hard to expand. In this context, financial regulations during the past year have focused on financial inclusion and on the improvement of competition in the financial industry, taking advantage of the appearance of new player in the international financial system: th fintech. Through the strategic alliance and cooperation of banks and fintechs, it is expected taht banks will improve their functionanlity and expand their reach into the significant number of people currently excluded from the financial system. Financial regulators have been encouragiging this symbiosos to boost the system´s growth, leading to an interesting range of new possibilities and useful operations, such as the use of technology in the provision and development of financial services, allowing, for instance, the creation of digital wallets for making instant payments or money transfers using mobile dcvices or computers, or even the withdrawal of cash from retail stores.
Major improvements have also occurred in the foreign exchange field, where the restrictions on the outflow and entry of foreign currency into the country have been eliminated, reduciong dramatically the control on these operations by the financial institutions, and consequentrly increasing the performance of foreign investments in the country.
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