The bank was set with an initial capital of physical gold worth £1,000,000, which were transferred from London to Oruro.

In 1907, Bolivia suffered an economic downturn due to the global financial crisis that occurred that year.

After the crisis, Patiño made a significant increase of capital to the bank in order to save it from bankruptcy.

The bank, which was primarily created to do businesses with the mining industry, reached its peak in the first half of the twentieth century.

Within the next few years, the company quickly developed and expanded its network of branches to all major cities in Bolivia, including La Paz, Cochabamba, Oruro, Sucre and Tarija.

[2][9] As of 2014, Banco Mercantil Santa Cruz offers its services through 93 branches, more than 350 ATMs, as well as online and mobile banking platforms.