DEPFA Bank plc was until its acquisition by Austrian lender Bawag Group in 2022 a Dublin-based bank with a long-standing heritage in public sector financing. It provided financial services to the public sector and also provided financing for larger infrastructure projects. The name derivates from Deutsche Pfandbriefbank.
History
DEPFA Bank was established in 1922 under auspices of the Prussian 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, Ireland[2] in 2002 with the Irish government specifically legislating for it.[3] Depfa Bank was purchased by German mortgage giant Hypo Real Estate