Betri Banki (formerly Føroya Sparikassi and Eik Banki) is a financial services group in the Faroe Islands, which was previously one of the two major privately owned banking firms based in the country. Established in 1832, the group, which also operated in mainland Denmark, encompassed retail, corporate and investment banking activities as well as real estate brokerage. The company was nationalised by Denmark in October 2010 after becoming insolvent, with its Danish retail banking operations being sold later in the year to the regional bank Sparekassen Lolland.
History
Føroya Sparikassi (now Betri banki) was established in 1832 as a savings bank. In 1992 it was transferred into a guarantor savings bank, and in 2002, it was converted to a public limited company. In 2006, it changed its name to Eik Banki, and on 11 July 2007, it was listed on the Icelandic and Danish stock exchanges as Eik Banki P/F.
In Denmark, Eik Banki founded a subsidiary bank, Eik Bank Danmark A/S. In 2007, Eik Bank Danmark acquired the Swedish Skandiabanken branch in Denmark. Skandiabanken is the leading Danish internet bank in Denmark, with around 120,000 customers. Skandiabanken was merged into Eik Bank Danmark in December 2007. In the same month Eik Bank acquired the Faroese operations of