arbiter
JournalsAccount

Corporate Warfare: Sudameris and the Franco–Italian Banking Rivalry in South America, 1945–1960

Ioan Achim Balaban

Enterprise and Society2026https://doi.org/10.1017/eso.2026.10116article
AJG 3ABDC A
Weight
0.50

Abstract

This article examines the postwar Franco-Italian struggle over Sudameris (Banque Française et Italienne pour l’Amérique du Sud), a multinational bank operating across South America. After 1945, Paribas sought to transform Sudameris into a French institution, backed by government pressure and asset sequestration. Italy’s Banca Commerciale Italiana (BCI) resisted, regaining majority control in 1948 through strategic share acquisitions. The ensuing conflict (1948–1955) centered on executive power. Paribas relied on French corporate law to maintain managerial dominance, while the BCI finally succeeded in appointing an Italian managing director in 1955. Under Italian leadership, Sudameris shifted from transactional to relationship banking in South America, reversing stagnation and achieving renewed growth by 1960. Sudameris’s early postwar history reveals how postwar European economic rivalries extended into South America and how multinational banks adapted to nationalist environments amid the contradictory forces of regional integration and global competition.

Open via your library →

Cite this paper

https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1017/eso.2026.10116

Or copy a formatted citation

@article{ioan2026,
  title        = {{Corporate Warfare: Sudameris and the Franco–Italian Banking Rivalry in South America, 1945–1960}},
  author       = {Ioan Achim Balaban},
  journal      = {Enterprise and Society},
  year         = {2026},
  doi          = {https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1017/eso.2026.10116},
}

Paste directly into BibTeX, Zotero, or your reference manager.

Flag this paper

Corporate Warfare: Sudameris and the Franco–Italian Banking Rivalry in South America, 1945–1960

Flags are reviewed by the Arbiter methodology team within 5 business days.

Evidence weight

0.50

Balanced mode · F 0.40 / M 0.15 / V 0.05 / R 0.40

F · citation impact0.50 × 0.4 = 0.20
M · momentum0.50 × 0.15 = 0.07
V · venue signal0.50 × 0.05 = 0.03
R · text relevance †0.50 × 0.4 = 0.20

† Text relevance is estimated at 0.50 on the detail page — for your query’s actual relevance score, open this paper from a search result.