Jorge Horacio Brito

Early life and education

Jorge Horacio Brito was born to an upper-class family in Buenos Aires in 1952 and was raised by his mother, who was widowed in 1962.

Banking and finance

He founded Anglia, a brokerage firm, in 1976 and, in 1985, purchased a competing brokerage, Financiera Macro, forming Macro Bank (Banco Macro). He was named Chairman of the Board of Directors in June 1988 and cultivated close relationships with leading officials in the governments of both Raúl Alfonsín and Carlos Menem. During the Menem presidency, Brito came under criticism for allegations of favorable treatment for one of Macro's largest borrowers, leather manufacturer Emir Yoma (Menem's brother-in-law), particularly after Macro's 1995 rescue by the Central Bank of Argentina. Under Brito's leadership, Macro Bank grew steadily with the acquisition of numerous provincial banks privatized during the 1990s, including the Bank of Salta (his native province) and of neighboring Tucumán Province.

Macro Bank grew to become one of the major private banks of Argentina, with several branches around country. Brito is the chairman of Macro Bank's board of directors, its Chief Executive Officer, and a member of its executive committee and senior credit committee.

Brito became chairman of the Argentine Banking Association (ADEBA) on April 8, 2003 until 2016, when was succeed by Daniel Llambías, chairman of Grupo Financiero Galicia owner of Banco Galicia. On 2017 He was replaced by Jorge Pablo Brito, Brito's son and director of Macro Bank.

ADEBA was founded in 1972 and is part of the G-6 Group, which unites the main Argentine business entities such as the Argentine Industrial Union, the Buenos Aires Stock Exchange, the Argentine Construction Chamber, the Argentine Chamber of Commerce, and the Argentine Rural Society. The Group organizes debates related with domestic economy and development.

Brito serves as chairman of the boards of directors of Banco del Tucuman S.A., Inversora Juramento S.A., and Banco Privado de Inversiones S.A. He is the founder and CEO of Banco Macro, and oversees investments in diverse activities such as real estate (through Vizora), and in farming and cattle raising through Inversora Juramento Inc., Frigoríficos Bermejo Inc. cold storages and Cabañas Juramento Inc. butcher shops. Moreover, he owns a share of Genneia Inc., an energy sector company. He also serves as chairman of the board of directors of YPF, long the largest petroleum producer and refiner in Argentina. Brito was among those who expressed interest in the purchase of 20% of the Madrid-based Repsol's ownership of the former state oil concern, when these shares were offered for sale in 2007.

Between 2012 and 2014, Jorge Horacio Brito was the president of the Latin America Banking Federation (FELABAN), a non-profit organization whose aim is to ease and promote relationships between all Latin American financing entities.

Real estate

Brito invested in real estate through Vizora, an Argentine firm involved in real estate activities in Argentina and in the region. Its core business is real estate development and marketing. Another of Brito's significant business interests is in real estate. His Vizora Developers purchased a prime, 2.5-hectare (6 acre) property in San Isidro (a northern suburb of Buenos Aires) for the construction of a condominium complex and an 11-hectare (28 acre) lot in Buenos Aires' burgeoning Puerto Madero area, where the group was involved in a US$160 million project. It has been actively engaged in the real estate development of the district of Puerto Madero, in Buenos Aires, where it had built Remeros Beach, Link Towers, Madero Walk, Madero Walk Eventos and Zen City. He has similarly invested in local luxury hotels, country clubs, and other upmarket real estate, including Central Tucumano (San Miguel de Tucumán), Arboris (Las Lomas and La Horqueta, at San Isidro), and the new and sustainable building of the Macro Bank at Catalinas Norte, Buenos Aires City.

Macro Bank participated in the construction of Madero Center, a luxury mixed use development building located in the neighbourhood of Puerto Madero in Buenos Aires, where personalities like the former Argentinian President Cristina Kirchner and former Vice President Amado Boudou own an apartment.

Agriculture and livestock

Brito’s companies of farming and cattle raising activities involve cow breeding and meat industrialization and commercialization, and to a lesser extent, agricultural sowing activities, mainly in soy. Inversora Juramento Inc. is in charge of cattle breeding. Frigoríficos Bermejo cold storage is engaged in industrial slaughtering and meat industrialization that reaches the consumer through Cabañas Juramento Inc. butcher shops.

Inversora Juramento Inc., founded in 1990, is one of the leading farming-cattle companies in the Argentine Northern Region. Because of its high quality standards, it is considered a model company. It is located in the town of Joaquín V. González, Salta, where it owns 67,000 hectares of field and 54,000 heads of cattle. Its core activity is the manufacture and trading of beef. Moreover, the company sows around 12,600 hectares per year. 8,000 hectares are soya fields. It also sows sorghum, alfalfa and corn, which are used to feed the cattle.

Frigoríficos Bermejo Inc. is a cold storage located in Pichanal, Salta. It owns a model industrial slaughtering and meat industrialization beef plant. The factory can monthly slaughter 10,000 heads of cattle. Wholesale and retail sales of Frigoríficos Bermejo Inc. are carried out in Salta and Jujuy by their own butcher shops and sales team. The company also exports to Chile and the European Union, which are markets that had approved their industrial processes.

Cabaña Juramento Inc. is a chain of boutique butcher shops that operate stores and online delivery services.