Jorge Yarur Banna

Jorge Yarur Banna (24 December 1918 – 17 October 1991) was a Chilean banker and lawyer of Palestinian descent. He was the long-standing chairman of the Banco de Crédito e Inversiones (BCI), one of Chile's major financial institutions, and also served as president of the Chilean Association of Banks and Financial Institutions (ABIF).

Early life and education Jorge Yarur Banna was born in Arequipa, Peru, the second son of Palestinian immigrant Juan Yarur Lolas, a prominent industrialist, and Olombí Banna Alak. His older brother was Carlos Yarur and his younger brother was Amador Yarur. The Yarur family would become one of the most influential business dynasties in Chile.

He received his early education in Bolivia before the family settled in Santiago in 1934. There, he completed his secondary education at the Instituto Inglés. Under his leadership, BCI underwent a period of significant expansion.

Political turmoil and expropriation This growth was halted in the early 1970s during the socialist government of Salvador Allende. The Allende administration's Popular Unity coalition intervened in the banking sector and expropriated much of the textile industry, including the Yarur family assets. As a result, Yarur Banna became a staunch opponent of Allende's policies.

Personal life and death Yarur Banna married Raquel Bascuñán Cugnoni in 1958 after a long courtship. The couple had one son, Jorge Yarur Bascuñán, who later founded the Museo de la Moda (Fashion Museum) in Santiago.

Hours after his press conference on 17 October 1991, and following a celebration with bank staff, Yarur Banna suffered a fatal stroke. He was 72.

He was succeeded as chairman of BCI by his nephew, Luis Enrique Yarur.