Živnostenská banka was established in 1868 as a joint stock company focusing on the financing of Czech small and medium–sized enterprises. It was the first bank in the Austro-Hungarian Empire to be financed entirely by Czech capital, and had as its aim supporting the development of newly established Czech businesses. The bank also sought the deposits of small savers: tradesmen and owners of small Czech companies. ZIBA became the umbrella organization of a network of small Czech savings and loan associations. Prior to the World War I, ZIBA took a minority holding in Serbian Credit Bank. Just before the outbreak of World War I, ZIBA had 1,068 employees, 11 branches in Bohemia and Moravia, and branches in Vienna, Cracow, Lviv, and Trieste. At that time ZIBA alone accounted for almost a third of the total capital of the Czech banking system. After the formation of the Czechoslovak Republic in 1918, ZIBA grew rapidly because of its role as the new state's key bank. The Nostrification Law of 1920 forced joint-stock companies to transfer their head offices to the territory of the new state where they had their factories and plants. This law protected Czech banks from foreign competition. ZIBA benefited enormously as it changed its strategy to one of providing loans to large industrial companies. In 1922 ZIBA established a branch in London. The bank fostered mergers among large Czech industrial corporations and systematically built up its industrial empire. As the strongest bank in prewar Czechoslovakia, ZIBA controlled 60 companies, including the largest in the country. It also developed links with French and British financial institutions. ZIBA had become a major financial actor in Central and Eastern Europe by 1938. On 12 March, Nazi Germany annexed Austria. The Germans established Länderbank Wien by merging the Dresdner Bank–owned Merkurbank in Vienna, the Austrian business of the Zentral-Europäische Länderbank of Paris, and ZIBA's branch in Vienna. On 29 September, as a result of the Munich Agreement, Czechoslovakia had to hand over the Sudetenland regions to the German Reich. Dresdner Bank took over ZIBA's Liberec, Ústí nad Labem, Karlovy Vary and Teplice branches. That same year Anglo-Czechoslovak and Prague Credit Bank established an office in New York. Next year, Prague Credit Bank changed its name to Anglo-Prague Credit Bank. During World War II ZIBA escaped direct annexation by a German bank, the only Czech bank to do so. Even so, it was forced to accept German control and to contribute heavily to German war financing. It purchased almost a billion crowns' worth of Reich treasury bills, a sum about three times the ZIBA's capital stock. Under German occupation, ZIBA tried more or less successfully, to protect the interests of Czech industry. After the defeat of Nazi Germany, the new Czechoslovak government nationalized ZIBA, together with all other Czechoslovak banks. In 1948 ZIBA absorbed Prague Credit Bank and with it PCB's New York office. A London Office of Zivnostenska Banka existed at No.48 Bishopsgate. It was managed by Bruno Pollack. His deputy was Leonard Dunstan. The bank continued to exist on that site into the 1950s when it moved to another part of the City. In 1949 ZIBA closed the New York office. Between 1950-6, ZIBA continued to exist as a legal entity but the government severely restricted its activities. Then starting in 1956, ZIBA's international and foreign exchange experience led the government to make it the primary Czechoslovak bank for Comeconimport and export business, in which its London branch played a significant role. ZIBA was the repository for all foreign currency accounts maintained by expatriates, foreign firms operating in Czechoslovakia, and state agencies facilitating "invisible" trade such as tourism. In 1988 ZIBA resumed corporate business. In 1992, ZIBA became the first bank in Central and Eastern Europe to be privatized. Germany's BHF-BANK took up 40% of the shares, the IFC acquired 12%, and the remaining 48% went to private individuals and Czech investment funds. Six years latere, Bankgesellschaft Berlin became the largest shareholder in ZIBA after taking over BHF-BANK's now 47% equity stake. Other significant shareholders were the IFC and Crédit Commercial de France. In 2000, Bankgesellschaft Berlin increased its stake in ZIBA to 85.16%. At this time, the bank had branches in Prague, Brno, České Budějovice, Karlovy Vary, Liberec, Ostrava, Pardubice and Zlín. It also had a representative office in Bratislava to handle operations in Slovakia. In 2002 - UniCredito Italiano acquired Bankgesellschaft Berlin's stake and launched a tender offer for all the remaining shares. In 2006 it was merged with HVB Bank Czech Republic and the new merged bank was renamed UniCredit Bank Czech Republic.
