In its early decades it became a leading financing source for agricultural smallholders, and later for commercial and industrial businesses, as well as handling an array of public sector transactions.

[4] The bank's reputation suffered after it was revealed that bribes had been received by the board of directors in 1994 when contacting IBM for the supply of computers, software, and communication equipment, becoming a prominent political scandal at the time.

[8] The bank's headquarters are located in the San Nicolás neighborhood of Buenos Aires on the site of the Teatro Colón's first building, bought by the national government in 1888 and later designated as main offices of the recently founded institution.

In 1938 architect Alejandro Bustillo presented a new design for a much larger building in a revivalist, French-influenced, Monumental Neoclassical style.

[10] In December 2011[update] the bank maintained 626 branches throughout Argentina,[3] and 15 more overseas (Santa Cruz de la Sierra, Bolivia; Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo, Brazil; Georgetown, Cayman Islands; Santiago, Chile; Paris; Tokyo; Panama City; Asunción, Paraguay; Madrid; London; New York City and Miami; Montevideo, Uruguay; and Caracas, Venezuela),[citation needed] along with a representative office in Porto Alegre, Brazil.