Credito Italiano

Credito Italiano was an Italian bank, now part of UniCredit Group. It was absorbed by Unicredit in 1998.

Founded on April 28, 1870 in Genoa as Banca di Genova, it took part in the establishment of Banco d'Italia (1871) and opened the first trans-atlantic banking business with Buenos Aires (1872). Local shareholders were local nobility (Pallavicino and Balbi), bankers (Quartara, Polleri) and merchants (Lagorio, Dodero, Bacigalupo), creating an initial capital of 3 million lira. It acquired "Banca Vonwiller" of Milan, but a large national financial crisis led to refinancing by German banks and name change to "Credito Italiano" (1895). Later, it acquired "Banca Manzi" of Rome (1901) and "Banca Meuricoffre" of Napoli (1905). Its headquarters moved to Piazza Cordusio in Milan, and, despite the Italo-Turkish War and World War I, it was able to open branch offices in London (1911) and New York City (1917), as well as in Paris and Berlin (1921). Later it acquired the "Banca del Monferrato", "Banca di Legnano", "Credito Varesino and the Swiss Banca Unione di Credito (1919), and in 1920 it joined the "Compagnia Finanziaria Nazionale" (1920); it also established "Banca Italo-cinese", the "Banca Italo Viennese" and "Tiroler Hauptbank" (1920), and contributed to the establishments of Banca Italo Egiziana (1924) and Banca Nazionale di Albania (1925).

As a result of the great depression, it went bankrupt and was revitalized by Istituto per la Ricostruzione Industriale (1933–45), becoming barred from acting strategically (only short-term business allowed), as well as being excluded from the Borsa Italiana (1935-1970). It was part of the Mediobanca (1946-) and, by successive mergers, became a part of Unicredito (1998).