Banca Nazionale del Lavoro

Banca Nazionale del Lavoro SpA (BNL) is an Italian banking firm. Founded in 1913 as Istituto di Credito per la Cooperazione, it was nationalized in 1929. It was re-privatized and listed on the Milan Stock Exchange in 1998, before being acquired by French banking group BNP Paribas in 2006. It is Italy's sixth largest bank. Banca Nazionale del Lavoro began Argentinian operations in 1960, ultimately opening 91 branches, before selling its operation there to HSBC Bank Argentina in 2006. The bank was involved in a major political scandal (dubbed Iraqgate by the media) when it was revealed in 1989 that the Atlanta, Georgia branch of the bank was making unauthorized loans of more than $4.5 billion to Iraq. Many of the loans that the branch...