direct/ Glitnir: Íslandsbanki becomes Glitnir - introduces new global brand

Reykjavik, 12 March 2006 - Íslandsbanki has changed its brand name to Glitnir, at the same time adopting a new logo and appearance. The bank´s subsidiaries and offices in five countries will also operate under the Glitnir brand. Announcement of the new name was made on Saturday in Reykjavík, at an event attended by about 1,000 of the company´s employees in Iceland, Norway, Denmark, Luxembourg and the UK.

Extensive changes have taken place in the bank´s operations in recent years: it has evolved from an Icelandic bank into an international financial company operating in five countries. The bank defines Iceland and Norway as its domestic markets. It also has operations in London, Luxembourg and Copenhagen, and will be opening offices in Halifax in Canada and Shanghai in China later this year.

Bjarni Ármannsson, CEO, says this transformation called for a new brand name for the company. "We now work in the international financial market, and this means certain changes had to be made," he says. "Brands must reflect the environment in which they operate, and in our case we need a name that can be used all over the world. We were in the unique position of having a fine-sounding name, Glitnir, which is also a well known brand in Iceland and which fits the bill exactly. It has positive connotations for Icelanders, contains an historical reference, is both Icelandic and Nordic, is easy to pronounce in all the main languages involved and also contains no unusual letters or accents."

The new name derives from Norse mythology: Glitnir was the home of Forseti, son of the divine pair Baldur and Nanna. At Glitnir, all quarrels were settled and those who came there were pardoned for their misdeeds.

Glitnir´s history goes back to the foundation of Íslandsbanki in 1904. Its operations were taken over by the Fisheries Bank of Iceland (Útvegsbankinn) in 1930; in 1990 the Fisheries Bank merged with the Industrial Bank of Iceland (Iðnaðarbanki Íslands), the Commercial Bank of Iceland (Verzlunarbanki Íslands) and the People´s Bank (Alþýðubankinn) to form a new Íslandsbanki. Ten years later, Íslandsbanki merged with Fjárfestingabanki atvinnulífsins (FBA), which had been founded two years earlier. Late in 2004, Íslandsbanki bought KredittBanken in Norway, and shortly afterwards BNbank, the fourth-largest bank in Norway. It has also opened offices in Luxembourg, London and Copenhagen. In recent months it has bought the securities brokerage Norse and a majority share in the Norwegian real-estate brokerage Union, and also announced plans to open offices in Canada and China. The Bank had a record profit of EUR 244 million in 2005.


For further information, please contact:
Bjarni Ármannsson, Chief Executive Officer, CEO, Glitnir,
telephone: +354-844-4990
Birna Einarsdóttir, Managing Director for Marketing and Sales,
telephone +354-844-4601
Bjørn Richard Johansen, International Communication and Public Affairs Director,
mobile +47-47 800 100, e-mail: brj@isbnorway.no or brj@glitnir.no

For photos and logo: e-mail to brj@isbnorway.no or brj@glitnir.no


About Glitnir:
Glitnir(GLITNIR, former Íslandsbanki,) is a leading Iceland-based financial group that offers universal banking. The bank´s home markets are Iceland and Norway. Glitnir is a leading global niche player in three industry segments: seafood/food, sustainable energy and offshore supply vessels/shipping. The bank has an office in Denmark and a branch in London. Glitnir is the sole owner of two banks in Norway (BNbank and Glitnir bank, formerly KredittBanken) and Glitnir S.A. in Luxembourg. Glitnir is listed on the Iceland Stock Exchange (Kauphöll Íslands) and has a market capitalization of approximately EUR 3.3 billion. Total assets at year-end 2005 were EUR 19.7 billion. Glitnir announced record profits of EUR 244 million for 2005. In Norway, Glitnir hf. owns BNbank, Glitnir bank, Glitnir Securities, Glitnir Kapitalforvaltning, Glitnir Factoring and 50.1 percent of the Union Group. The Glitnir Group has 1200 employees.

For more information see: www.glitnir.is




The announcement distributed by directnews.
The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement.

This release was published on openPR.