Qatar National Bank says it has completed acquisition of Turkey’s Finansbank

“This transaction is a significant milestone in QNB Group’s strategy of international expansion. With the addition of Turkey as a new market and one of the leading Turkish banks to its network, QNB Group further extends its international presence and will be able to increasingly benefit from the rapid development of trade and the strengthening of economic ties between Turkey and the Middle East in general, as well as between Qatar and Turkey in particular,” it stated. 

The transaction is the latest for the Qatari lender, which is now the largest bank in the Middle East and Africa by assets, having brought Societe Generale’s Egyptian business for $2 billion in 2013, and a 23.5 percent stake in pan-African lender Ecobank International in 2014, as noted by Reuters. 

The National Bank of Greece had to put its Turkish subsidiary up for sale to plug a capital shortfall identified by European Central Bank (ECB) stress tests last October, with QNB announcing an agreement last December to buy the bank for 2.7 billion euros ($3 billion).

Finansbank is the fifth-largest privately-owned bank by assets in Turkey. With a nationwide distribution network of over 620 branches and more than 12,000 employees, it has more than 5.3 million active customers, according to the QNB statement.