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Denizbank A.Ş. is a private bank in Turkey controlled 99.79% by the French - Belgian bank Dexia since May 2006.
Denizbank was established in 1938 as a state-owned bank to help finance the then emerging Turkish maritime industry. It became one of the leading banks in Turkey for its excellent service. In 1992, the Turkish government decided to consolidate a number of state-owned banks, and Denizbank merged with Emlakbank.
In 1997, Denizbank was separated and privatized without any significant assets except a small number of branches inactive since the merging. Zorlu Holding acquired the bank from the Privatization Administration early in 1997, and operations commenced again in September that year. With the revitalization program initiated, new branches were opened under the new corporate identity. Expansion was supported by acquiring some branch offices from other banks, and by merging of Tarişbank in 2002. It went international by establishing or acquiring banks in Austria, Russia and the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus. Furthermore, Denizbank extended its product range by adding services like investment banking, brokerage, factoring and leasing, which all were formed under the leadership of Denizbank to "Denizbank Financial Services Group" in 2003. The group of 13 companies employs 6,000 people.
A recognized European magazine, The Banker, selected Denizbank in 2004 the fastest and most consistently growing bank in Southern Europe.
On May 31, 2006, Belgium’s fourth biggest bank Dexia purchased 75% of the stake for US$ 2.437 billion from Zorlu Holding and announced that the bank’s name will not change. The remaining 25% of the shares is being held publicly. Denizbank has 244 branch offices and ranks sixth in the Turkish private banking sector.
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İstanbul, Turkey
