The story
Bank of Georgia traces its origins to 1903. The bank was later nationalised during the Soviet period and became the state-owned Binsotsbank Following Georgia’s transition to a market economy, Binsotsbank was privatised in 1994 and renamed Bank of Georgia. The present legal entity, JSC Bank of Georgia, was established on 21 October 1994 and received its banking licence from the National Bank of Georgia on 15 December 1994. In the late 20th century, it was owned by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, the German Investment Corporation and the Georgian physicist, Vitaly Gelarani.
Bank of Georgia was first listed on the Georgian Stock Exchange in 2001. In 2004, it acquired TbilUniversalBank and Georgian Card, a card-processing platform, as part of a period of expansion and infrastructure development.
Starting from 2004, Bank of Georgia completed a number of strategic acquisitions, introduced a series of packaged retail products and initiated major infrastructure upgrades.
This is when the Bank launched its private banking, placed debut corporate bonds on the Georgian Stock Exchange.
In 2007, Bank of Georgia listed its shares on the London Stock Exchange in the form of global depositary receipts, the first international IPO from Georgia. The period following the listing was marked by the issuance of the first Eurobond, further acquisitions, and new international partnerships, including with American Express.
A new holding company Bank of Georgia Holdings (now Lion Finance Group) was established in October 2011 and secured a listing on the main market of the London Stock Exchange in April 2012.
In 2014, Bank of Georgia acquired Tao Private Bank, the 9th largest bank in Georgia at the time of acquisition.
In 2020, the European Investment Bank signed a €50 million loan deal with the Bank of Georgia for small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and mid-caps. The Bank of Georgia typically lends the funds to local businesses, such as the Swiss Agricultural School Caucasus.
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In February 2024, Bank of Georgia Group announced the proposed acquisition of 100% of a leading bank in Armenia, Ameriabank, for approximately $303.6 million. The acquisition completed on May 24, 2024.
On 6 February 2025, Bank of Georgia Group PLC changed its name to Lion Finance Group PLC to reflect the group’s operations in both Georgia and Armenia. Bank of Georgia and Ameriabank continued to operate as separate banks under their existing brands. On 25 March 2025, JSC BGEO Group acquired the remaining 0.44% minority interest in Bank of Georgia, increasing its ownership to 100%.
Global Finance magazine named Bank of Georgia the World's Best Digital Bank in 2024 and 2025.
Bank of Georgia’s shares were delisted from the Georgian Stock Exchange on 27 June 2025. The bank itself is therefore no longer publicly listed, although its ultimate parent company, Lion Finance Group PLC, remains listed on the London Stock Exchange.
Lion Finance Group joined the FTSE 100 Index on 23 March 2026 following the March 2026 quarterly review.
From Wikipedia’s article on Bank of Georgia, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.5