Banco Mercantil or simply Mercantil is a Venezuela

Venezuela

Venezuela , officially called the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela , is a tropical country on the northern coast of South America. It borders Colombia to the west, Guyana to the east, and Brazil to the south...

n financial institution

Banco

Banco may refer to:* Banco , an album by Banco del Mutuo Soccorso;* Banco by Henri Charrière;* Banco , A decorative typeface;* Banco ; fermented mud; made by fermenting mud with rice husks...

 based in Caracas

Caracas

Caracas , officially Santiago de León de Caracas, is the capital and largest city of Venezuela; natives or residents are known as Caraquenians in English . It is located in the northern part of the country, following the contours of the narrow Caracas Valley on the Venezuelan coastal mountain range...

, the second largest bank in the country. At the end of 2007, it owned 321 agencies, 313 of them established in Venezuela.

History

Banco Mercantil was founded in 1917 as Banco Mercantil Americano, but in 23 March 1925 is renamed as Banco Neerlando Venezolano. The following year was again established with the name Banco Mercantil y Agrícola (Mercantile and agricultural bank) at the same time the Venezuelan government allow it the permission to issue banknote

Banknote

A banknote is a kind of negotiable instrument, a promissory note made by a bank payable to the bearer on demand, used as money, and in many jurisdictions is legal tender. In addition to coins, banknotes make up the cash or bearer forms of all modern fiat money...

s together with another five financial institutions due to the unexistence of a central bank

Central bank

A central bank, reserve bank, or monetary authority is a public institution that usually issues the currency, regulates the money supply, and controls the interest rates in a country. Central banks often also oversee the commercial banking system of their respective countries...

. In 1940, the bank stopped the issue of banknotes after the establishment of the Banco Central de Venezuela.

In 1968, it became the official representative of Diners Club

Diners Club

Diners Club International, founded as Diners Club, is a charge card company formed in 1950 by Frank X. McNamara, Ralph Schneider and Matty Simmons...

 in Venezuela. Since the 1970s the bank achieved the opening of subsidiaries in Brazil, Curaçao

Curaçao

Curaçao is an island in the southern Caribbean Sea, off the Venezuelan coast. The Country of Curaçao , which includes the main island plus the small, uninhabited island of Klein Curaçao , is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands...

, Germany, Panama

Panama

Panama , officially the Republic of Panama , is the southernmost country of Central America. Situated on the isthmus connecting North and South America, it is bordered by Costa Rica to the northwest, Colombia to the southeast, the Caribbean Sea to the north and the Pacific Ocean to the south. The...

, United Kingdom and United States.

In 1982, the Mercantil Tower

Mercantil Tower

Torre Banco Mercantil is a skyscraper located in the Venezuelan city of Caracas, is known for being the fourth tallest tower in the city and the country with 179 m in height and 40 floors or floors, is located at Avenida Andres Bello, Candelaria Parish of Libertador municipality northwest of the...

skyscraper was built as the new bank headquarter's. In 1994, it was not really affected by the economic crisis in Venezuela. In 2000, Mercantil bought a lot of financial and insurance institutions as Interbank, Venezolana Entidad de Ahorro y Préstamo, Banco Monagas, Seguros Orinoco, among others. At the end of 2007, Mercantil controlled 12.29% of the banking market share

Market share

Market share is the percentage of a market accounted for by a specific entity. In a survey of nearly 200 senior marketing managers, 67 percent responded that they found the "dollar market share" metric very useful, while 61% found "unit market share" very useful.Marketers need to be able to...

 in Venezuela, just behind Banesco

Banesco

Banesco is a bank based in Caracas, Venezuela. it is the country's largest bank, with a market share of 14.2%. It has 440 branches in all parts of Venezuela...

.