Juan Carlos Escotet

Juan Carlos Escotet is the founder of Caracas-based banking group Banesco.

Banesco is operational in Venezuela, Panama, the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, Colombia and the United States.

In 2012 Escotet bought Banco Echevarría, a 300-year-old Spanish bank, for around $90 million; the next year Echevarría bought domestic rival Abanca for $1.3 billion.

Escotet began working as a messenger for Banco Union when he was 17 while studying economics. In 1986, he founded a brokerage firm.

He added banking services in 1991, and in 2001, he merged his bank with Banco Union.