This month marks 30 years since
Deutsche Bank opened its first branch in Madrid, Spain. However the Bank’s business links with the country date back to 1889.
On 17 October 1979, Deutsche Bank’s 10th foreign branch was established in the Spanish capital by converting a representative office that had been in existence since April 1973. Deutsche Bank was the first foreign bank allowed in the country.
When the branch opened, Germany was Spain’s third largest trading partner. The country was undergoing a process of transformation at the time, following the death of military general and dictator of Spain, Francisco Franco. A new democratic constitution was enacted in 1978. With Spain’s accession to the European Community in 1986 the transformation was complete and the country enjoyed a buoyant economic upturn.
A long business relationship with SpainDeutsche Bank’s business relationship with Spain goes back as far as the 1880s. Arising from its involvement in Spanish electricity projects, Deutsche Bank founded Banco Hispano Alemán in Madrid in 1889 together with the bank Arthur Gwinner (whose owner of the same name moved to Deutsche Bank a few years later and became its Chairman in 1910). In 1894 Deutsche Bank converted Banco Hispano Alemán into a limited partnership under the name Guillermo Vogel & Co. For over a decade this institution represented Deutsche Bank's interests in Spain.
In 1907 Deutsche Ueberseeische Bank (DUB) – the South American subsidiary of the bank, founded in 1886, which also began business in Spain at this time – took over Guillermo Vogel & Co. and opened a branch in its place in Madrid under its own name.
DUB quickly became a formidable force in the Spanish banking world and played a leading role in the financial development of German-Spanish trade. After the World War II, the Spanish branches of DUB were nationalised. As its new owner, the Spanish State sold the remaining assets to a group of shareholders in 1949 who converted the Spanish branches into an independent institution – Banco Comercial Transatlántico, also known as Bancotrans. In 1957 a reactivated DUB again acquired a 10% stake in this Spanish institution. In 1968 Deutsche Bank acquired a stake in Bancotrans itself, gradually increasing its participation until it possessed the majority stake in 1989.
Following Deutsche Bank's acquisition of Banco de Madrid in 1993, Bancotrans and Banco de Madrid merged at the beginning of 1994 to form Deutsche Bank Sociedad Anónima Española with a total of over 250 branches. At a stroke Deutsche Bank now had a national presence in Spain under its own name.
Today Deutsche Bank is one of the leading banks in Spain and offers a broad range of banking services in corporate and investment banking, as well as in retail banking and asset management.
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