Argentina's Banco Macro SA will absorb the retail operations of Banco de Servicios y Transacciones SA, or BST, as part of the latter's strategic business repositioning, the banks said in regulatory filings, confirming recent media reports.

Banco de Servicios will stop operating in the retail market at the close of business on Aug. 3, while Banco Macro will rebrand 20 BST branches under its own name before reopening them on Aug. 6.

The companies did not disclose the terms of the transaction.

Banco de Servicios, which will retain its Sucursal Obelisco branch, said it will place a greater focus on corporate banking under a strategic repositioning that will see the lender concentrate on fiduciary banking, capital markets and foreign trade.

Banco Macro said the 20 branches include locations in the city of Buenos Aires as well as in the provinces of Buenos Aires, Cordoba, Mendoza, Misiones, Neuquén, Salta, San Juan, San Luis and Santa Fe.

Previous reports in the Argentine media said the deal has already been approved by the country's central bank. BST's assets are reportedly worth around 5.00 billion Argentine pesos and its liabilities are worth about 4.70 billion pesos. It has 58,000 active credit cards and 3,600 deposit accounts.

As of July 27, US$1 was equivalent to 27.34 Argentine pesos.