Banco Comercial do Atlântico
| Commercial banking | |
| Founded | September 1, 1993 |
| Headquarters |
Praia on Santiago Island Cape Verde |
| Products | Commercial banking |
| Website | www.bca.cv |
The Banco Comercial do Atlântico (Portuguese meaning the "Atlantic Commercial Bank") is a Cape Verdean bank. The headquarters of the company is located Praia, the largest city, on Santiago Island in Cape Verde. The bank has 23 branches and sub-branches spread over all 9 inhabited Cape Verdean islands. In 2000 it introduced ATMs and debit cards and now accounts for about half of both in the islands.
History
The bank was created on September 1, 1993, when the government separated the commercial and central banking functions of the Bank of Cape Verde, which had been operating since 1975. The government had created Bank of Cape Verde by nationalizing the operations of the Portuguese colonial and overseas banks, Banco Nacional Ultramarino, which had established its first branch in Cape Verde in 1865 and Banco de Fomento Nacional which had established its only branch in Mindelo, S. Vicente island, in 1973. Privatization of Atlântico began in 1998. Today, Caixa Geral de Depósitos, which acquired Ultramarino, owns about 53% of Atlântico; the government still owns 10%.