Chavez to buy out Bank of Venezuela

Hugo Chavez has said that he will nationalize the Bank of Venezuela, one of the country's largest financial institutions. Chavez has asked the bank's Spanish owners, Grupo Santander, for a meeting to set a price for the deal. 'We're going to nationalize Bank of Venezuela. I'm calling on (Grupo Santander) to come and start negotiating,' Chavez said in a speech on television and radio. 'They wanted to sell the bank to a Venezuelan banker, and as head of state I'm saying no. Sell it to the government, to the state. 'We're going to reinvigorate the Bank of Venezuela. We're very much in need of a bank of that magnitude,' Chavez said.