Banif Financial Group is a Portuguese

Portugal

Portugal , officially the Portuguese Republic is a country situated in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of Europe, and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the West and South and by Spain to the North and East. The Atlantic archipelagos of the...

 international financial services

Financial services

Financial services refer to services provided by the finance industry. The finance industry encompasses a broad range of organizations that deal with the management of money. Among these organizations are credit unions, banks, credit card companies, insurance companies, consumer finance companies,...

 group based around the bank Banco Internacional do Funchal. The company has a presence in Europe

Europe

Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...

, South America

South America

South America is a continent situated in the Western Hemisphere, mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere. The continent is also considered a subcontinent of the Americas. It is bordered on the west by the Pacific Ocean and on the north and east...

, North America

North America

North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...

, Africa

Africa

Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...

 and Asia

Asia

Asia is the world's largest and most populous continent, located primarily in the eastern and northern hemispheres. It covers 8.7% of the Earth's total surface area and with approximately 3.879 billion people, it hosts 60% of the world's current human population...

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History

Banif was founded and incorporated by Horácio Roque

Horácio Roque

Horácio da Silva Roque was a Portuguese financier and businessman, who founded the Banco Internacional do Funchal in 1988....

 on 15 January 1988 and took over all of the asset

Asset

In financial accounting, assets are economic resources. Anything tangible or intangible that is capable of being owned or controlled to produce value and that is held to have positive economic value is considered an asset...

s and liabilities of the defunct Caixa Económica do Funchal. In 1995, it opened offices in Caracas, Venezuela and South Africa

South Africa

The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...

; in 1996 in São Paulo, Brazil; and in 2008 in San Ġiljan, Malta

Malta

Malta , officially known as the Republic of Malta , is a Southern European country consisting of an archipelago situated in the centre of the Mediterranean, south of Sicily, east of Tunisia and north of Libya, with Gibraltar to the west and Alexandria to the east.Malta covers just over in...

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Subsidiaries

Banif consists of the following subsidiaries, most of which have either been incorporated or purchased:

• SGM – Sociedade Gestora de Fundos de Pensões Mundial, S.A. (1989)
• Ascor Dealer – Sociedade Financeira de Corretagem, S.A. (1989)
• Mundileasing – Sociedade de Locação Financeira, S.A. (1990)
• Mundicre – Sociedade Financeira para Aquisições a Crédito, S.A. (1991)
• Banifundos – Sociedade Gestora de Fundos de Investimento Mobiliário, S.A. (1991)
• Invesfeiras – Investimentos Imobiliários, S.A. (1991)
• Banif – Investimentos – S.G.P.S., S.A. (1992)
• Banifólio – Sociedade Gestora de Patrimónios, S.A. (1992)
• Banif – Banco Internacional do Funchal (Cayman), Ltd. (1993)
• Açoreana Seguros (1996)
• Banco Comercial dos Açores (1996)
• BanifServ Agrupamento Complementar de Empresas de Serviços, Sistemas e Tecnologias de Informação (1997)
• Banif – Banco de Investimento, S.A. (2000)
• Banif Financial Services, Inc. (2001)
• Banif Mortgage Company (2002)

Portuguese

In March 1992, Banif first appeared on the Lisbon

Lisbon

Lisbon is the capital city and largest city of Portugal with a population of 545,245 within its administrative limits on a land area of . The urban area of Lisbon extends beyond the administrative city limits with a population of 3 million on an area of , making it the 9th most populous urban...

 and Porto

Porto

Porto , also known as Oporto in English, is the second largest city in Portugal and one of the major urban areas in the Iberian Peninsula. Its administrative limits include a population of 237,559 inhabitants distributed within 15 civil parishes...

 stock exchange

Stock exchange

A stock exchange is an entity that provides services for stock brokers and traders to trade stocks, bonds, and other securities. Stock exchanges also provide facilities for issue and redemption of securities and other financial instruments, and capital events including the payment of income and...

s.

North American

In 2002, Banif Securities acquired the Brazilian brokerage

Stock broker

A stock broker or stockbroker is a regulated professional broker who buys and sells shares and other securities through market makers or Agency Only Firms on behalf of investors...

 firm Indusval, giving them a place on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange

New York Stock Exchange

The New York Stock Exchange is a stock exchange located at 11 Wall Street in Lower Manhattan, New York City, USA. It is by far the world's largest stock exchange by market capitalization of its listed companies at 13.39 trillion as of Dec 2010...

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