Banco Pastor - History

History

Founded in 1776 by Jaime Dalmau Batista as Jaime Dalmau y Cía (Jaime Dalmau and Company), who had a shipping company operating between the port of A Coruña and several American ports. Galician emigrants used to send their savings back to Galicia through the shipping company, hence the need to manage all that capital.

In 1819 José Pastor Taxonera became a partner in the company, and soon took control of the business. He bought it in 1845 and changed its name to José Pastor. The business was passed down through generations of his descendants, changing its name to Pastor Hermanos, José Pastor y Cía. and Sobrinos de José Pastor successively until 1925, when it was given its current name and became a S.A. (corporation).

In 1939, Pedro Barrié de la Maza (one of the main economic supporters of the Franco's coup d'état who had received an economic tzar position in Galicia in exchange for his support) took full control of the bank and use it as a supporter of Galician business network control. At a national level it cooperation with Astano, Renfe and Fenosa, founded in 1943 by Barrié de la Maza.

In 1971, after Barrié de la Maza's death, his wife Carmela Arias y Díaz de Rábago was appointed executive president of the bank, being the first woman to do so in Spain. In September 2001 she was succeeded by José María Arias Mosquera.

In 2011, with the global financial crisis fully in effect, Banco Pastor was one of the few banks that failed the European stress test. On October 10th, a agreement was reached for a takeover by Banco Popular, but to be continued to be run as a separate entity.