DEPFA Bank plc was until 2014 a Dublin-based German-Irish

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 ...

. It provided financial services to the

public sector The public sector, also called the state sector, is the part of the economy composed of both public services and public enterprises. Public sectors include the public goods and governmental services such as the military, law enforcement, inf ...

and also provided financing for larger infrastructure projects. The name derivates from ''Deutsche

Pfandbrief The Pfandbrief (plural: Pfandbriefe), a mostly triple-A rated German bank debenture, has become the blueprint of many covered bond models in Europe and beyond. The Pfandbrief is collateralized by long-term assets such as property mortgages or pu ...

bank''.

History

DEPFA Bank was established in 1922 under auspices of the

Prussian Prussia, , Old Prussian: ''Prūsa'' or ''Prūsija'' was a German state on the southeast coast of the Baltic Sea. It formed the German Empire under Prussian rule when it united the German states in 1871. It was ''de facto'' dissolved by an e ...

government, and was asked to provide financing for residential construction projects. Its more recent history began in the 1950s, when the bank become a federally owned corporation, and was to provide for a wide range of residential mortgages. When the corporation lost its tax-free status in the 1970s, it entered the commercial lending industry, becoming the largest German underwriter of public covered bonds. The bank was privatized in 1990, and obtained a FSE listing in 1991. At the end of the 1990s, the bank went through a legal restructuring, which led the bank to move its headquarters to the IFSC in

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of the Wicklow Mountains range. At the 2016 c ...

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

in 2002 with the Irish government specifically legislating for it. Depfa Bank was purchased by German mortgage giant

Hypo Real Estate The Hypo Real Estate Holding AG is a holding company based in Munich, Germany which comprises a number of real estate financing banks. The company's activities span three sectors of the real estate market: commercial property, infrastructure and ...

in October 2007. The bank ran into liquidity problems in 2008 as a result of the economic and financial turmoil in the United States. At the same time, banking supervision in Ireland was very weak, soon to be proved by the

2008–2010 Irish banking crisis The post-2008 Irish banking crisis was the situation whereby, due to the Great Recession, a number of Irish financial institutions faced almost imminent collapse due to insolvency. In response, the Irish government instigated a €64 billion ban ...

. DEPFA underwrote a group of municipal bonds in the U.S. that subsequently had their ratings downgraded. Under the terms of the underwriting, DEPFA was required to buy back the securities after the downgrade in the ratings. Because of the difficulties in obtaining short-term funding in the markets at that time, Depfa's liquidity became a major concern. Through a series of bailouts, the

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) ** Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ge ...

government ended up with 100% ownership of Depfa's parent company,

References

External links

Official site
Banks established in 1922 2014 disestablishments in Ireland Financial services companies based in Dublin (city) Defunct banks of Germany Defunct banks of Ireland German companies established in 1922 German companies disestablished in 2014 Companies formerly in the MDAX {{Germany-bank-stub