Banka Kombëtare Tregtare (BKT) is the largest and oldest operating

commercial bank A commercial bank is a financial institution that accepts deposits from the public and gives loans for the purposes of consumption and investment to make a profit. It can also refer to a bank or a division of a larger bank that deals with whol ...

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 ...

, tracing its roots to the creation of the National Bank of Albania in 1925. In 2021, it had a market share of 26.11%.

Establishment

In the early 1990s, Albania reformed its banking system to establish a

two-tier banking system A single-tier banking system is a policy framework under which all credit institutions coexist without distinction about the quality of their liabilities, or in other words, there is no distinction between central bank money and broad money. This ...

. In 1991, Banka Tregtare Shqiptare (BTSH) was established from the sub-division of the activities of the

Albanian State Bank The Bank of Albania () is the central bank of Albania, issuing the Albanian lek. It is headquartered in Tirana, with five branches in Shkodër, Elbasan, Gjirokastër, Korçë and Lushnjë, and a Research and Training Center in Berat. The bank wa ...

, the main activity of which was managing the foreign trade operations of the state-owned entities with former socialist countries. In 1992, Banka Kombëtare e Shqipërisë (BKSH) was created by a second sub-division of the State Bank of Albania. BKSH was set up to manage the domestic trading activity of the State-owned entities. The assets and liabilities from the activities of these two entities were transferred to BKT accounts since it was first established. Banka Kombëtare Tregtare (BKT) was established in January 1993 by merging BTSH and BKSH. It was subsequently restructured as a

joint-stock company A joint-stock company (JSC) is a business entity in which shares of the company's stock can be bought and sold by shareholders. Each shareholder owns company stock in proportion, evidenced by their shares (certificates of ownership). Shareho ...

in July 1997, with assets reaching ALL 2.7 billion.

Privatization

The bank accomplished its privatization process in the year 2000. Particularly on 6 July 2000, The

Albanian Parliament The Parliament of Albania () or Kuvendi is the unicameral representative body of the citizens of the Republic of Albania; it is Albania's legislature. The Parliament is composed of no less than 140 members elected to a four-year term on the b ...

approved the sale contract between the Ministry of Finance and the Consortium of International Investors consisting of Kentbank with 60% of the shares,

International Finance Corporation The International Finance Corporation (IFC) is an international financial institution headquartered in Washington, D.C. and a member of the World Bank Group that offers investment, advisory, and asset-management services to encourage private ...

(IFC) with 20%, and

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 ...

with 20%. The transfer of ownership entered into force on 17 October 2000. By November of the same year, the new shareholders invested US$10 million, recapitalizing the bank. In 2001, the establishment has had major transformations brought by the new highly experienced shareholders and managers, These transformations included the development of a new infrastructure, and the restructuring of all aspects of the bank's operations from personnel and procedures to IT infrastructure. At that moment, the young and dynamic team of professionals that the bank employed was committed to achieving perfection. Two years after, the paid-up capital reached the amount of US$14, 64 million, according to the general meeting in February 2003, turning the bank into the most capitalized bank in the whole Albanian banking system. 2006 started with a new vision for Banka Kombëtare Tregtare. With the authorization of the

Bank of Albania The Bank of Albania () is the central bank of Albania, issuing the Albanian lek. It is headquartered in Tirana, with five branches in Shkodër, Elbasan, Gjirokastër, Korçë and Lushnjë, and a Research and Training Center in Berat. The bank was ...

and pursuant to the specific court decision issued on 9 June 2006, the transfer of 60% plus 2 of the bank's shares possessed by Kent Bank was approved in favour of Çalik-Seker Konsorsiyum Yatirim A.S. Eventually after the decision to expand in

Kosovo Kosovo, officially the Republic of Kosovo, is a landlocked country in Southeast Europe with International recognition of Kosovo, partial diplomatic recognition. It is bordered by Albania to the southwest, Montenegro to the west, Serbia to the ...

in September 2007, the institution already had 24 branches opened, ranking the largest Albanian bank in the region. On 30 June 2009, Çalik Financial Services bought the shares of the IFC and EBRD, and thus became the bank's sole shareholder.

References

External links

Official Website
{{Portal, Banks Banks of Albania Banks established in 1993 Albanian brands 1993 establishments in Albania