Even efficient banks cannot do all these jobs. The only way the provincial banks could
survive was with public help in the form of free deposits from the government, relaxed
reserve requirements, tax exemptions, government guarantees on deposits and loans,
and protection from bankruptcy. Chartered under provincial law, the banks could not
be closed by the BCRA for insolvency or illiquidity. With time, however, the power of
the BCRA was extended, the provincial budgets ran dry, and privatization followed.