NBI hf. is a state-run bank which operates in Iceland. The organisation was created in October 2008 after the government took control of the insolvent Landsbanki, formerly one of the three largest banks in Iceland. With the creation of the new company, around 500 jobs were lost as employee numbers were cut from 1,500 to 1,000. This is due to the radical reorganisation of the bank, which will focus operations on recovering the former Landsbanki.
In establishing Landsbankinn, the Icelandic parliament hoped to boost monetary transactions and encourage the country's nascent industries. Following its opening on 1 July 1886, the bank's first decades of operation were restricted by its limited financial capacity; it was little more than a savings and loan society. Following the turn of the 20th century, however, Icelandic society progressed and prospered as industrialisation finally made inroads, and the bank grew and developed in parallel to the nation. In the 1920s Landsbankinn became Iceland's largest bank, and was made responsible for issuing its bank notes. After the issuing of banknotes was transferred to the newly established Central Bank of Iceland in 1961, Landsbankinn continued to develop as a commercial bank, expanding its branch network in the ensuing decades. Liberalisation of financial services, beginning in 1986, opened up new opportunities, which the bank managed to take advantage of despite some economic adversity. In 1997, Landsbankinn was incorporated as a limited-liability company, and the ensuing privatisation finally concluded in 2003. Landsbankinn now operates as a private bank, competing in a free market, with substantial international activities added to its traditional Icelandic operations.
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