What have been Deutsche Banks most important acquisitions?
Deutsche Bank started to buy other major banks as early as 1876. It substantially expanded its presence in Germany by integrating Bergisch Märkische Bank (1914) and Schlesischer Bankverein (1917) and their respective branch networks. The merger of Deutsche Bank and Disconto-Gesellschaft in October 1929 was the largest merger to date in the German banking industry. It was around this time that Deutsche also acquired illustrious institutions such as Norddeutsche Bank (Hamburg) and A. Schaaffhausen’scher Bankverein (Cologne). It was not until it bought banks in Italy (Banca d’America e d’Italia) and Spain (Banco Comercial Transatlántico) in the 1980s that Deutsche Bank established its own branch networks abroad. In 1989 it acquired Morgan Grenfell, a blue-blooded UK merchant bank. Its 1999 takeover of the New York-based investment bank Bankers Trust was the largest-ever acquisition by a German bank in the US financial market.
