The Albanian bank Union Bank has acquired the Albanian branch of the Malaysian bank International Commercial Bank (ICBank), according to a statement by the Bank of Albania.
ICBank started operations in Albanian in 1997, right after the Ponzi schemes crumbled in the country. Today ICBank has 90 employees and five branches, mainly in Tirana.
Union Bank opened in 2007 with exclusively domestic capital.
Four banks were sold out in the last year in Albania. The Veneto Bank was acquired by Intesa SanPaolo Bank. The National Bank of Greece (NBG) in Albania was acquired by Abi Bank. The Albanian company Balfin Group acquired Tirana Bank, which was part of the Greek Piraeus Bank Group. Lastly, French stakeholders of the Societe Generale Bank bought all shares owned by Albanian stakeholders.
