Banco Santander, S.A., doing business as Santander Group (UK: /ˌsæntənˈdɛər, -tæn-/, US: /ˌsɑːntɑːnˈdɛər/.Banco Santander was founded in 1857 as Banco de Santander. In 1999 it merged with Banco Central Hispano, which had in turn been formed through the 1991 merger of Banco Central and Banco Hispanoamericano. The combined bank, known as Banco Santander Central Hispano, or BSCH, 106  was designed to be a "merger of equals", in which the top executives of the two pre-existing firms would share control of the merged entity.