Christiania Bank og Kreditkasse, branded domestically as Kreditkassen or K-Bank and internationally as Christiania Bank was a

Norwegian Norwegian, Norwayan, or Norsk may refer to: *Something of, from, or related to Norway, a country in northwestern Europe *Norwegians, both a nation and an ethnic group native to Norway *Demographics of Norway *The Norwegian language, including the ...

bank A bank is a financial institution that accepts 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 markets. Because ...

that existed between 1848 and 2000 when it

merged Mergers and acquisitions (M&A) are business transactions in which the ownership of companies, other business organizations, or their operating units are transferred to or consolidated with another company or business organization. As an aspect ...

with

MeritaNordbanken Nordea Bank Abp, commonly referred to as Nordea, is a European financial services group operating in northern Europe and based in Helsinki, Finland. The name is a blend of the words "Nordic" and "idea". The bank is the result of the successive m ...

and became

Nordea Nordea Bank Abp, commonly referred to as Nordea, is a European financial services group operating in northern Europe and based in Helsinki, Finland. The name is a blend of the words "Nordic" and "idea". The bank is the result of the successive m ...

. The bank had its headquarters in

Oslo Oslo ( , , or ; sma, Oslove) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population of ...

and was Norway's second largest bank at the time of the merger. Christiania Bank had branch offices in

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, and

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History

The bank was founded in Oslo (then called Christiania) in 1848 as Christiania Kreditkasse, though changed its name to Christiania Bank og Kreditkasse in 1862. In 1858, the bank moved out of its temporary location at the home of the bank manager, Fritz Henrich Frölich, and to permanent locations. It opened branches in 1897, under the directorship of Peter Harboe Castberg The bank expanded out of Oslo in 1957 when it bought Elverum Kreditbank and Hamar Privatbank, and in 1959 with the acquisition of

Agder Bank Agder is a county (''fylke'') and traditional region in the southern part of Norway. The county was established on 1 January 2020, when the old Vest-Agder and Aust-Agder counties were merged. Since the early 1900s, the term Sørlandet ("south ...

. By 1965, the bank had 18 offices outside Oslo. In 1973, the bank opened its first international office, in

Luxembourg Luxembourg ( ; lb, Lëtzebuerg ; french: link=no, Luxembourg; german: link=no, Luxemburg), officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, ; french: link=no, Grand-Duché de Luxembourg ; german: link=no, Großherzogtum Luxemburg is a small lan ...

. In the 1980s, the bank further acquired Andresens Bank (in 1980), Vestfoldbanken (in 1981) and Fiskernes Bank (in 1983). In the last years of the 1980s, there was a major financial crisis in Norway and by 1991 the bank had used up all capital. To save the bank, the

Government of Norway The politics of Norway take place in the framework of a parliamentary, representative democratic constitutional monarchy. Executive power is exercised by the Council of State, the cabinet, led by the prime minister of Norway. Legislative power i ...

took over the bank and gave it new capital, rescuing it from

bankruptcy Bankruptcy is a legal process through which people or other entities who cannot repay debts to creditors may seek relief from some or all of their debts. In most jurisdictions, bankruptcy is imposed by a court order, often initiated by the debtor ...

. In the early years of the 1990s, the bank also bought Sunnmørsbanken and Sørlandsbanken. In 1995, the government reduced its ownership to 51%, listing it on the

Oslo Stock Exchange Oslo Stock Exchange ( no, Oslo Børs) (OSE: OSLO) is a stock exchange within the Nordic countries and offers Norway’s only regulated markets for securities trading today. The stock exchange offers a full product range including equities, deriv ...

, and in 1999 to 35%. The same year, the

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MeritaNordbanken bid for the bank, and in 2000 the government sold its shares and the bank became part of Nordea. Christiania Bank was at the time of the merger with Nordea Norway's oldest existing bank.

External links

Nordea web site

History of the bank
{{Authority control Defunct banks of Norway Companies based in Oslo Banks established in 1848 Banks disestablished in 2000 Companies formerly listed on the Oslo Stock Exchange Formerly government-owned companies of Norway 2000 disestablishments in Norway Norwegian companies established in 1848