BHF Bank, full name Berliner Handels- und Frankfurter Bank was a German

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 ...

formed in 1970 by merger between the

Berliner Handels-Gesellschaft The ''Berliner Handels-Gesellschaft'' (BHG, ) was a significant German joint-stock bank, founded in 1856 in Berlin. It relocated to Frankfurt following World War II. On (with retroactive effect at ), BHG merged with Frankfurter Bank to form , ...

and

Frankfurter Bank The ''Frankfurter Bank'' was a German bank founded in 1854 in Frankfurt, which issued its own banknotes until 1901. On , it merged with the Berliner Handels-Gesellschaft to form , generally referred to as BHF Bank until 2017 and since then as ...

, both founded in the 1850s. It was initially named Berliner Handels-Gesellschaft – Frankfurter Bank () and was rebranded BHF Bank in 1975. BHF Bank was among the largest commercial banks in Germany, but experienced relative decline under successive ownership of

ING Group ING Group N.V. () is a Dutch multinational corporation, multinational banking and financial services corporation headquartered in Amsterdam. Its primary businesses are retail banking, direct banking, commercial banking, investment banking, whol ...

and

Sal. Oppenheim Sal. Oppenheim was a German private banking, private bank founded in 1789 and headquartered in Cologne, Germany. It provided asset management solutions for wealthy individual clients and institutional investors. In 2009, the bank became a subsidia ...

. It was eventually acquired by Paris-based

Oddo & Cie ODDO BHF is a financial services group headquartered in Paris, France. It was created in 1967 as Oddo & Cie, a French family-owned stockbroker. In 2016, Oddo purchased BHF Bank, a German bank specialising in Mittelstand companies, and in 2017 ...

which subsequently renamed itself

ODDO BHF ODDO BHF is a financial services group headquartered in Paris, France. It was created in 1967 as Oddo & Cie, a French family-owned stockbroker. In 2016, Oddo purchased BHF Bank, a German bank specialising in Mittelstand companies, and in 2017 ...

History

BHF Bank was formed on 1 September 1970 (with retroactive effect at 1 January 1970) from the merger of the Frankfurter Bank, founded in 1854, and the Berliner Handels-Gesellschaft; founded in 1856. Also in 1970, the bank's , initially commissioned by Berliner Handels-Gesellschaft and designed by architect

Sep Ruf Sep Ruf (full name Franz Joseph Ruf; 9 March 1908, in Munich – 29 July 1982, in Munich) was a German architect and designer strongly associated with the Bauhaus group. He was one of the representatives of modern architecture in Germany af ...

, was inaugurated, by then the highest building in Frankfurt. In 1975, the bank was renamed to BHF Bank. Throughout the 1970s and 1980s, it was in the top three to five investment banks in

West Germany West Germany was the common English name for the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) from its formation on 23 May 1949 until German reunification, its reunification with East Germany on 3 October 1990. It is sometimes known as the Bonn Republi ...

and had a top position in the foreign exchange market. In 1995, the bank went public, changing from a

partnership A partnership is an agreement where parties agree to cooperate to advance their mutual interests. The partners in a partnership may be individuals, businesses, interest-based organizations, schools, governments or combinations. Organizations ...

to a

corporation A corporation or body corporate is an individual or a group of people, such as an association or company, that has been authorized by the State (polity), state to act as a single entity (a legal entity recognized by private and public law as ...

. From 1999 to 2004, it was bought by the Dutch

and renamed, in 2002, the ING BHF-Bank. In the same year, it was delisted; its remaining shareholders were squeezed out. In 2004, ING BHF-Bank was split. The majority of the bank's business operations, offices, and equity shareholdings were integrated into the newly founded BHF-BANK Aktiengesellschaft, which was then acquired by the private bank Sal. Oppenheim as its sole shareholder. Sal. Oppenheim was taken over by the Deutsche Bank in 2010; BHF-BANK, which has always operated on a stand-alone basis, was put up for sale. In 2014, the bank pertained to BHF Kleinwort Benson Group, which was taken over by the French private bank

Oddo et Cie ODDO BHF is a financial services group headquartered in Paris, France. It was created in 1967 as Oddo & Cie, a French family-owned stockbroker. In 2016, Oddo purchased BHF Bank, a German bank specialising in Mittelstand companies, and in 2017 ...

. By mid-March 2016, Oddo et Cie acquired 100% of the Group's shares and has thus become BHF-BANK's indirect sole shareholder. In April 2017, the company was renamed ODDO BHF.

References

Banks established in 1970 Banks of Germany {{bank-stub

History

See also

References