Life and times

Jorge Brito was born in Salta

Salta

Salta is a city in northwestern Argentina and the capital city of the Salta Province. Along with its metropolitan area, it has a population of 464,678 inhabitants as of the , making it Argentina's eighth largest city.-Overview:...

 in 1952 and was raised by his mother, who was widowed in 1962. He founded Anglia, a brokerage, in 1976 and, in 1985, purchased a competing brokerage, Financiera Macro

Banco Macro

Banco Macro is the largest domestically-owned private bank in Argentina, and the fifth-largest by deposits and lending.-Overview:Banco Macro began operations as Financiera Macro, a brokerage specializing in arbitrage founded by Mario Brodersohn, José Dagnino Pastore and Alieto Guadagni, in 1976...

. He was named Chairman of the Board of Directors in June 1988 and cultivated close relationships with leading officials in the both the Raúl Alfonsín

Raúl Alfonsín

Raúl Ricardo Alfonsín was an Argentine lawyer, politician and statesman, who served as the President of Argentina from December 10, 1983, to July 8, 1989. Alfonsín was the first democratically-elected president of Argentina following the military government known as the National Reorganization...

 and Carlos Menem

Carlos Menem

Carlos Saúl Menem is an Argentine politician who was President of Argentina from 1989 to 1999. He is currently an Argentine National Senator for La Rioja Province.-Early life:...

 presidencies. During the latter, Brito came under criticism for allegations of favorable treatment for one of Macro's largest borrowers, leather manufacturer Emir Yoma (Menem's brother-in-law), particularly after Macro's 1995 rescue by the Central Bank of Argentina. Under Brito's leadership, Macro Bank grew steadily with the acquisition of numerous provincial banks privatized during the 1990s, including the Bank of Salta (his native province) and of neighboring Tucumán Province

Tucumán Province

Tucumán is the most densely populated, and the smallest by land area, of the provinces of Argentina. Located in the northwest of the country, the capital is San Miguel de Tucumán, often shortened to Tucumán. Neighboring provinces are, clockwise from the north: Salta, Santiago del Estero and...

.

Heading the nation's largest domestically-owned private bank, Brito became chairman of Argentine Banking Association (ADEBA), in 2003. He also serves as chairman of the board of directors of YPF, long the largest petroleum

Petroleum

Petroleum or crude oil is a naturally occurring, flammable liquid consisting of a complex mixture of hydrocarbons of various molecular weights and other liquid organic compounds, that are found in geologic formations beneath the Earth's surface. Petroleum is recovered mostly through oil drilling...

 producer and refiner in Argentina. Brito was among those who expressed interest in the purchase of 20% of the Madrid

Madrid

Madrid is the capital and largest city of Spain. The population of the city is roughly 3.3 million and the entire population of the Madrid metropolitan area is calculated to be 6.271 million. It is the third largest city in the European Union, after London and Berlin, and its metropolitan...

-based Repsol's ownership of the former state oil concern, when these shares were offered for sale in 2007. Another of Brito's significant business interests is in real estate

Real estate

In general use, esp. North American, 'real estate' is taken to mean "Property consisting of land and the buildings on it, along with its natural resources such as crops, minerals, or water; immovable property of this nature; an interest vested in this; an item of real property; buildings or...

. His Vizora Developers purchased a prime, 2.5-hectare (6 acre) property in San Isidro

San Isidro, Buenos Aires

San Isidro, Buenos Aires is a municipality in Greater Buenos Aires and one of the most affluent municipalities in Argentina. It is located in San Isidro Partido in the Buenos Aires Province....

 (a northern suburb of Buenos Aires

Buenos Aires

Buenos Aires is the capital and largest city of Argentina, and the second-largest metropolitan area in South America, after São Paulo. It is located on the western shore of the estuary of the Río de la Plata, on the southeastern coast of the South American continent...

) for the construction of a condominium

Condominium

A condominium, or condo, is the form of housing tenure and other real property where a specified part of a piece of real estate is individually owned while use of and access to common facilities in the piece such as hallways, heating system, elevators, exterior areas is executed under legal rights...

 complex and an 11-hectare (28 acre) lot in Buenos Aires

Buenos Aires

Buenos Aires is the capital and largest city of Argentina, and the second-largest metropolitan area in South America, after São Paulo. It is located on the western shore of the estuary of the Río de la Plata, on the southeastern coast of the South American continent...

' burgeoning Puerto Madero

Puerto Madero

Puerto Madero, also known within the urban planning community as the Puerto Madero Waterfront, is a barrio of the Argentine capital at Buenos Aires CBD, occupying a significant portion of the Río de la Plata riverbank and representing the latest architectural trends in the city of Buenos...

 area, where the group is currently involved in a US$160 million project. Brito has continued in his pragmatic approach to Argentina's fast-changing political panorama

Politics of Argentina

The politics of Argentina take place in the framework of what the Constitution defines as a federal presidential representative democratic Republic, where the President of Argentina is both Head of State and Head of Government. Legislative power is vested in both the President and the two chambers...

, and has been a vocal supporter of Kirchnerism

Kirchnerism

Kirchnerism is a term used to refer to the political philosophy and supporters of Néstor Kirchner, president of Argentina from 2003 to 2007, and of his wife Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, President from 2007...

 since it advent in 2003, endorsing President Cristina Kirchner's candidacy in 2007.