The story
The history of the Hansabank Group dates back to 1 July 1991 when Hansapank started operating as a branch of Tartu Commercial Bank in Estonia. Officially Hansapank launched independent operations on 10 January 1992. Hansabank was founded in Estonia by Hannes Tamjärv, Jüri Mõis, Rain Lõhmus and Heldur Meerits.
The following year the bank set up its first subsidiary, AS Hansa Liising (Hansa Leasing), which focused on selling leasing products. In 1995 Hansabank also opened a branch in Riga, the capital of the neighbouring country Latvia and Hansa Liising's subsidiary, AS Hansa Leasing Latvia, was also launched. In 1996 Hansabank Group was formed and Hansabank's Latvian consumer banking was expanded through a merger with the German-Latvian Bank (Deutsche-Lettische Bank).
In 1996, Hansabank established its presence in the largest of the Baltic states, Lithuania. Differently from Estonia and Latvia, the first company set up there was Hansa Leasing Lithuania. In 1996 Hansabank Markets were created on the basis of bank's financial markets division; this unit dealt with financial markets of Baltic states. 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.
In 2001, Hansabank acquired a 90.73 percent stake in the previously state-owned Lithuanian Savings Bank (Lithuanian: Lietuvõs Taũpomasis Bánkas, LTB) that had been formed in 1990 from the Lithuanian operations of the Savings Bank of the USSR and converted into a joint-stock company in 1992. At the time, LTB was Lithuania's largest banks by assets and in terms of branch network. LTB was rebranded Hansa-LTB in 2001, then Hansabank in 2003 and Swedbank in 2009.
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.
From Wikipedia’s article on Hansabank, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.4