Dresdner Bank

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The 1978 "Silver Tower" houses part of the head office of the Dresdner bank.

Dresdner Bank AG is one of Germany's largest banking corporations and is based in Frankfurt.

Dresdner Bank was founded in Dresden in 1872. In 1995, it bought Kleinwort Benson and, in 2001, Wasserstein Perella & Co., to form its investment banking arm Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein. This arm was renamed Dresdner Kleinwort in September of 2006, dropping the Wasserstein name. Since 2002, Dresdner Bank has been a wholly- owned subsidiary of the insurance corporation Allianz. Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein, the IB arm of Dresdner recently in July of 2006 dropped Wasserstein from their name and went through a re-organization of corporate bank, capital markets and investment bank to form Dresdner Kleinwort, the arm made up of Capital Markets and Investment Banking.

The 2003 finished "Gallileo Tower" is part of the head office of Dresdner Bank.

History
Dresdner Bank was established on November 12, 1872 through the conversion of financial institution Michael Kaskel . The bank developed from a regional bank in Saxony to one of the leading banks in Germany. “It has not only witnessed but also actively experienced the German empire, the Weimar Republic, the National Socialist era (sic), post-war reconstruction in Germany and finally the reunification of both German states.” (Dresdner Bank)
Dresdner Bank founding consortium consisted of Allgemeine Deutsche Creditanstalt, Leipzig, Berliner Handels-Gesellschaft, Berlin, Deutsche Veriensbank, Franfurt am Main, Deutsche Effecten- und Wechselbank, Franfurt am Main, and Anglo-Deutsche Bank, Hamburg with an initial capital of 8 million Talers (24 million Marks) and 30 employees in Wildruffer Strasse in Dresden. In 1970s, Dresdner Bank acquired smaller regional institutes and several banks. The new branch in Berlin quickly exceeded the office in Dresden; therefore, the registered office moved to Berlin in 1884 leaving the place of jurisdiction in Dresden until 1950. After few new acquisitions, (even the acquisition of founder of Anglo-Deutsche Bank) opened the first international branch in London in 1895. By 1900, Dresdner bank had the largest German branch network. During the First World War, the London branch forced to close; however, the branch network expanded in overall.
After the banking crisis in 1931 the Reich owned 66% and Deutsche Golddiskontbank owned 22% of Dresdner Bank shares. The Bank was reprivatised in 1937. As a result of World War II 80% of the Bank building were destroyed; therefore, the Bank lost 162 offices in 56 location. As a result of the monetary reform and the introduction of the Deutsche Mark in 1948 the banking business normalized.
Dresdner Bank expanded its network with acquisition and opening new offices not only in Europe but also in the United States, Singapore, Canada, Australia, Japan, Hong Kong, and China. Dresdner bank was the first to open its own office in former eastern Germany in Dresden in January 02, 1990. After the acquisition of Kleinwort Benson in 1995 to form its investment-banking arm Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein, Dresdner bank takes over the American investment bank Wasserstein Perella Group Inc., New York in 2000. This arm was renamed Dresdner Kleinwort in September of 2006, dropping the Wasserstein name. Since 2002, Dresdner Bank has been a wholly- owned subsidiary of the insurance corporation Allianz. Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein, the Investment Bank arm of Dresdner recently, in July of 2006 dropped Wasserstein from their name and went through a re-organization of corporate bank, capital markets and investment bank to form Dresdner Kleinwort. The arm made up of Capital Markets and Investment Banking.