 The bank opened simultaneously in Rosario and the provincial capital Santa Fe City on 1 September 1874.On 12 July 1991 the Provincial Bank of Santa Fe became a joint stock company ("sociedad anónima") with its majority share owned by the provincial state, and changed its name to "Banco de Santa Fe SAPEM".The process was highly controversial and more than 5 years were needed for the privatization law to be voted successfully; the bank was finally privatized as "Nuevo Banco de Santa Fe S.A." in 1997, and left under the control of the "Banca General de Negocios" (BGN), a financial group with participation of important international banks (the Chase Manhattan Bank, the Dresdner Bank and the Credit Suisse), managed by the brothers Carlos and José Rohm (the latter was the president of the NBSF).