FIH Erhvervsbank

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FIH Erhvervsbank A/S (hereafter FIH) is a Danish corporate and investment bank specialising in lending to Danish corporates. It is headquartered in Copenhagen and has four local offices in Jutland (Aalborg, Århus, Herning, and Fredericia).

FIH is the fifth largest bank in Denmark measured on working capital.

Since 2004 FIH has been a wholly owned subsidiary of Kaupthing Bank – the 7th largest bank in the Nordic region.

FIHs major funding sources are the European capital markets with EMTN and CP Programmes. In these markets FIH is known as "Finance for Danish Industry". FIH has an annual finance requirement of approximately EUR 2.5-3 billion.

[edit] History

FIH was founded in 1958 by initiative from the Danish State to provide medium to long term capital for Danish industry. FIH was first owned by the Danish Central Bank, selected domestic banks, insurance companies, and the Confederation of Danish Industries.

In 1988 FIH was first listed on the stock exchange and in 1989 FIH received its first Moody’s credit rating.

In 1999 FI Holding A/S purchased FIH. FI Holding was established at this point – with majority shareholder Swedbank owning 60 per cent of shares.

In June 2004 Kaupthing Bank (Icelandic) was annonced as the buyer of 100 per cent of the shares in FI Holding A/S for a net price of EUR 950 million, and on September 29th 2004 Kaupthings acquisition of FIH was approved by the Icelandic and Danish FSA.

In 2006 FIH made the strategic decision to expand its traditional corporate lending business with investment banking activities and to this end built two new business units: Capital Markets and Corporate Finance.