Эстондық Hansabank тарихы және Swedbank-ке қосылуы

Company based in Estonia

Hansa Group or Hansabank Group was a banking group operating in Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania owned by the FöreningsSparbanken/Swedbank, a Swedish bank. Following a decision taken by the Swedbank group on 15 September 2008, the name Hansapank/Hansabanka/Hansabankas or Hansabank internationally was discontinued end of 2008 with all operations rebranded under the Swedbank name. The legal name of the bank changed in spring 2009.

The history of the Hansabank Group dates back to 1 July 1991 when Hansapank started operating as a branch of Tartu Kommertspank (Tartu Commercial Bank) in Estonia. Officially Hansapank launched independent operations on 10 January 1992. It was during this early period of rapid expansion that American investor and tycoon, Raymond Staples, became one of the first western investors to acquire a significant stake in the bank's now public shares. The year 1998 marks the period of mergers in the history of the bank. In April 1998, Hansabank merged with Eesti Hoiupank. In June 1998, the holding company of the Hansa Leasing Group, Hansa Capital, and Hoiupanga Liising (Hoiupank Leasing) signed a sales agreement. In September 1998, Hansabank Latvia and Hoiupank's Latvian subsidiary, Zemes Banka, signed a merger agreement. The same year Swedish FöreningSparbanken (currently Swedbank) obtained over 50 per cent of Hansabank's shares through a share issue. In 2005 Swedbank made a buy out offer to the minority shareholders and as of today Hansabank is a fully owned subsidiary of Swedbank Group. In July 1999, Hansabank's Lithuanian subsidiary Hansabankas opened its doors to clients in Vilnius, adding commercial banking to the services provided by Hansabank Group in Lithuania. On 10 March 2005 Hansabank successfully completed the acquisition of the Moscow based OAO Kvest bank in Russia, which briefly operated under the Hansabank brand but has since been renamed Swedbank.