Intesa Sanpaolo Bank Albania was created in 2008 from the merger of two of the country's most important

bank A bank is a financial institution that accepts Deposit account, deposits from the public and creates a demand deposit while simultaneously making loans. Lending activities can be directly performed by the bank or indirectly through capital m ...

s: Banca Italo-Albanese (founded in 1993) and the American Bank of Albania (founded in 1998), both acquired by

Intesa Sanpaolo Intesa Sanpaolo Società per azioni, S.p.A. is an Italian international banking group. It is Italy's largest bank by total assets and the world's 27th largest. It was formed through the merger of Banca Intesa and Sanpaolo IMI in 2007, but has a ...

Group. In 2021, Intesa Sanpaolo Bank Albania had a market share of 11.01%, making it the 4th largest bank in Albania.

History

American Bank of Albania

ABA was established in September 1998, by the

Albanian-American Enterprise Fund Albanian-American Enterprise Fund (AAEF) is a non-political, not-for-profit US corporation established pursuant to the Support for East European Democracy Act of 1989 (“SEED Act”). It was incorporated in 1995 and maintains offices in New Yo ...

(AAEF) a private investment fund established by the

United States government The Federal Government of the United States of America (U.S. federal government or U.S. government) is the Federation#Federal governments, national government of the United States. The U.S. federal government is composed of three distinct ...

under the SEED Act of 1989, to assist

Albania Albania ( ; or ), officially the Republic of Albania (), is a country in Southeast Europe. It is located in the Balkans, on the Adriatic Sea, Adriatic and Ionian Seas within the Mediterranean Sea, and shares land borders with Montenegro to ...

in its transition to a

market economy A market economy is an economic system in which the decisions regarding investment, production, and distribution to the consumers are guided by the price signals created by the forces of supply and demand. The major characteristic of a mark ...

. As at 30 December 2007, ABA had total deposits of LEK 93.4 billion, total loans of over LEK 39.7 billion, and total assets of over LEK 106.4 billion. On the 20th and 21 December 2006, AAEF, ABA’s sole

shareholder A shareholder (in the United States often referred to as stockholder) of corporate stock refers to an individual or legal entity (such as another corporation, a body politic, a trust or partnership) that is registered by the corporation as the ...

, signed a Share Purchase Agreement and a Shareholder Agreement for the sale of 80% stake of the shares outstanding, with AAEF maintaining control of the other 20% stake, until 2009. The agreement was finalized on 29 June 2007, when ABA officially became a bank of Intesa Sanpaolo Group.

Banca Italo-Albanese

Banca Italo-Albanese was established in July 1993 as one of the first

private bank Private banks are banks owned by either the individual or a general partner(s) with limited partner(s). Private banks are not incorporated. In any such case, creditors can look to both the "entirety of the bank's assets" as well as the entire ...

s in Albania. It was established as a

joint venture A joint venture (JV) is a business entity created by two or more parties, generally characterized by shared ownership, shared returns and risks, and shared governance. Companies typically pursue joint ventures for one of four reasons: to acce ...

between the National Commercial Bank of Albania (shares were transferred to Ministry of Finance) and the Italian

Banca di Roma Banca di Roma was an Italian bank based in Rome, formed in 1992 by merger of Banco di Santo Spirito and Banco di Roma. From 2008 it was a subsidiary of UniCredit under the name UniCredit Banca di Roma S.p.A.. In 2010 the subsidiary was absorbed ...

. On 7 December 2005, Sanpaolo IMI signed the agreement for the acquisition of a stake of 80% in Banca Italo Albanese, from

Capitalia Capitalia was an Italian banking group headquartered in Rome, in existence between 2002 and 2008. The bank was a listed company in Borsa Italiana (Milan Stock Exchange). The bank was acquired by UniCredit by issuing new shares of UniCredit for sh ...

and the Ministry of Finance (40% each). The

European Bank for Reconstruction and Development The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, shortened to EBRD ( French: ''Banque européenne pour la reconstruction et le développement'' or ''BERD''), is an international financial institution founded in 1991 in Paris. As a multilat ...

(20%) retained its stake.

References

External links

{{Portal, Banks
Intesa Sanpaolo Bank Albania Official SiteIntesa Sanpaolo Bank Albania SWIFT Codes
Banks of Albania Intesa Sanpaolo subsidiaries 2008 establishments in Albania Banks established in 2008