MIGA Supports Expansion of Credit to Businesses in Argentina
WASHINGTON, June 24, 2025 – The Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA), which houses the World Bank Group Guarantee Platform, issued a guarantee of $500 million to Banco Santander S.A. of Spain for its investments in Santander Argentina. The guarantee covers the risk of expropriation of funds with respect to the mandatory reserves held at the Central Bank of Argentina for up to 3.5 years.
Santander’s subsidiaries are mandated by local regulations to maintain a certain amount of cash at the respective local central bank as mandatory reserves. The MIGA guarantee brings down the risk and frees up capacity for new loan growth. The project provides an opportunity to build resilience in the banking sector and facilitate a faster deployment as the economic recovery takes shape in Argentina.
"Our collaboration with Banco Santander of Spain underscores our dedication to advancing sustainable economic development and resilience in Latin America," said Hiroshi Matano, Executive Vice President of MIGA. "By facilitating access to finance and promoting inclusive growth, this guarantee plays a key role in promoting economic recovery and setting the stage for a brighter future in Argentina and the broader region."
The guarantee will enable an estimated $1 billion capacity for Santander Argentina’s loan growth, of which Santander Argentina will allocate $167 million toward climate finance, including renewables, sustainable agriculture, water, waste management, and green buildings. That includes $75 million to support no-till farming and crop rotation practices. It will also increase new lending to women-owned small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to approximately $1.45 billion, benefiting about 100,000 women. Only 22% of companies in Argentina are owned by women.
“We are very grateful for the continued partnership with MIGA across Latin America and especially in Argentina,” said José García Cantera, Senior EVP & Group CFO of Banco Santander. “This expanded guarantee facility will enable us to further scale our financing to the private sector, generating meaningful impact on sustainability, entrepreneurship, job creation and economic growth. Together with MIGA, we are committed to supporting the development of SMEs and fostering a more resilient and inclusive economy.”
This is MIGA’s third project with Santander Argentina, one of the largest commercial banks in the country. The bank’s signature initiative, Santander Women, supports women as consumers, entrepreneurs, and employees by expanding access to credit, financial education, and skills training. The program promotes financial independence and serves as a model for other banks.
The project is aligned with MIGA’s strategic focus of ensuring inclusive growth by supporting underserved groups, namely SMEs, in Argentina.
About Banco Santander S.A. (SAN SM)
Banco Santander is a leading commercial bank, founded in 1857 and headquartered in Spain and one of the largest banks in the world by market capitalization. The group’s activities are consolidated into five global businesses: Retail & Commercial Banking, Digital Consumer Bank, Corporate & Investment Banking (CIB), Wealth Management & Insurance and Payments (PagoNxt and Cards). This operating model allows the bank to better leverage its unique combination of global scale and local leadership. Santander aims to be the best open financial services platform providing services to individuals, SMEs, corporates, financial institutions, and governments. The bank’s purpose is to help people and businesses prosper in a simple, personal, and fair way. Santander is building a more responsible bank and has made a number of commitments to support this objective, including raising €220 billion in green financing between 2019 and 2030. In the first quarter of 2025, Banco Santander had €1.4 trillion in total funds, 175 million customers, 7,900 branches, and 207,000 employees.
About the World Bank Group Guarantee Platform
Initiated in 2024, the World Bank Group Guarantee Platform consolidates guarantee products and experts from across the World Bank Group at MIGA. It provides a simplified and comprehensive menu of guarantee solutions, enabling clients to select the instrument that best suits their needs. The platform streamlines processes, removes redundancies, and provides greater accessibility by de-risking investments in developing countries. Its goal is to boost the World Bank Group’s annual guarantee issuance to $20 billion by 2030. For more information about the guarantee platform, please visit: https://www.worldbank.org/wbgguarantees. Stay updated and follow us at https://x.com/MIGA and https://www.linkedin.com/company/wb-miga
Contact:
In Washington: Elizabeth Howton, (202) 458-5922 or ehowton@worldbankgroup.org