Founded on October 15, 1953, in Caracas, Venezuela, as Banco Provincial with a capital of Bs. 15,000,000. In November 1996, Banco Provincial became the first universal bank in Venezuela by expanding its business objectives to include activities of specialized banking. In 1997, Spain’s Banco Bilbao Vizcaya (now Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria) acquired the majority of shares as a strategy of expansion into Latin America.