Glitnir (bank)

Glitnir Banki hf.

Former type	Private
Industry	Banking
Fate	Government custodianship, moratorium on payments
Successor	Nýi Glitnir (Icelandic business only)
Founded	Reykjavík, Iceland (traces history to 1904)
Defunct	7 October 2008
Headquarters	Reykjavík, Iceland
Key people	Þorsteinn Már Baldvinsson (Chairman of the board), Lárus Welding (CEO)
Profit	ISK 27,651 million (2007)
Total assets	ISK 2,948 billion (2007)
Number of employees	1,980 (2007)
Website	www.glitnir.is (Icelandic) www.glitnirbank.com

Glitnir was an international Icelandic bank. It was created by the state-directed merger of the country's three privately held banks - Alþýðubanki (Union Bank), Verzlunarbanki (Bank of Commerce) and Iðnaðarbanki (Industrial Bank) - and one failing publicly held bank - Útvegsbanki (Fisheries Bank) - to form Íslandsbanki in 1990. At the time, Íslandsbanki was the only major privately held commercial bank in Iceland. It was publicly listed on the , in 1993. Íslandsbanki subsequently merged with FBA Icelandic Investment Bank in 2000.

On 20 February 2009, in light of the Icelandic financial crisis, the bank’s name was changed back to the original Íslandsbanki.

By 15 October 2009, it was decided that 95% of the new Íslandsbanki would be taken over by the creditors of Old Glitnir, while the government of Iceland would retain ownership of the remaining 5%.

A third of the company was owned by Stodir. A large share of Stodir was controlled by Baugur Group and Baugur Group reportedly by a number of companies which have address in a single mailbox in British Virgin Islands.

The financial group Glitnir offered universal banking and was a leading niche player in three global segments; seafood/food, sustainable energy, and offshore supply vessels. Glitnir operated branches in London and Copenhagen, and had representative offices in Halifax, Canada and in Shanghai, China. Services included retail, corporate and investment banking, stock trade and capital management. Glitnir also had a fully owned bank in Luxembourg (Glitnir Bank Luxembourg S.A) and banks and financial services companies in Norway.

Glitnir considered Iceland and Norway its home markets. Since 2004, Glitnir had acquired BNbank and Glitnir bank (previously Kredittbanken), Glitnir Securities (previously Norse Securities) and Glitnir Kapitalforvaltning, the factoring company Glitnir Factoring (previously FactoNor), and 50.1 percent of Union Gruppen in Norway. In addition, Glitnir's subsidiary BNbank acquired 45 per cent of the shares in Norsk Privatøkonomi ASA, an independent financial advisory company with 12 branches in key areas of Norway, in July 2006.