ANNUAL REPORT 2010

Mercantil Banco Universal:
85 years at the service of Venezuela
Eighty-five years ago on March 23, 1925 the Bank that today is called Mercantil Banco
Universal was created under the name Banco Neerlando Venezolano at the initiative of a
group of eighty-nine Venezuelan entrepreneurs. It opened its doors to the public at La Gran
Casa de Camejo, on a central Caracas street corner that bore the same name as the property,
on April 3 with a share capital of Bs 3.2 million and a staff of sixteen, under the management
of its first board of directors chaired by Francisco A. Guzmán Alfaro.
This was the start of long history of progress for Mercantil Banco Universal. By December 31,
2010 it had a share capital of Bs 4,582 million and Bs 46,271 million in assets; a payroll of more
than 6,500 employees; a network of 274 banking centers in Venezuela and branches in the
United States and Curaçao, and five Representative Offices in Bogota, Lima, Mexico City, Sao
Paulo and New York; more than 3.6 million clients; and a technological platform that
processes more than 44 million transactions a month. Mercantil Banco Universal is now part
of Mercantil Servicios Financieros, a financial services provider with operations in 10 countries
in the Americas, Europe and Asia.
In 1926 Banco Neerlando Venezolano, as it was then called, changed its trading name to Banco
Mercantil y Agrícola and increased its capital to 8 million bolivars. Aware at the time of the
importance of agriculture for the country, the Board of Directors (anticipating changes in
legislation) decided to stimulate production through agricultural credits, positioning itself
as a prominent financial institute in this important sector.
In 1927, the former Banco Mercantil y Agrícola was already one of the four financial
institutions in Venezuela authorized to issue banknotes acceptable as legal tender.
Ten years later in 1936 it expanded its Venezuelan operation and the new Valencia office in
Carabobo state became the institution’s first branch outside the capital.
By 1951 the bank had fourteen offices, nine of them in the metropolitan area of Caracas and
five in the provinces. That same year the institution bought the plot occupied at the time by
Pan Grande at Esquina San Francisco and there at number 5 it built and opened its new
headquarters on April 25 of that same year. By the end of the sixties it had 28 branches and
agencies throughout Venezuela and was able to meet the growing demand from clients and
the general public with a better service.
Mercantil Servicios Financieros
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