The Commercial Bank of Montenegro was established in 1962 by spinoff from the
National Bank of Yugoslavia, then renamed as IBT in 1966. It was reorganized in 1970, and again on as a so-called associated bank. It opened a branch in
New York in early 1981. As such, it became one of nine associated banks that henceforth formed the backbone of Yugoslavia's banking sector, together with
Beogradska Banka and
Jugobanka in Belgrade,
Vojvođanska Banka in Novi Sad,
Kosovska Banka in Pristina,
United Bank of Croatia in Zagreb,
Ljubljanska Banka,
Privredna Banka Sarajevo, and
Stopanska Banka Skopje. IBT's successor Montenegrobanka was still the country's leading bank by the early 2000s. In 2001, the Montenegrin authorities initiated its reorganization, followed by a privatization process in 2002-2003. NLB won the privatization process in June 2003, thus becoming the largest bank in Montenegro, with an ownership stake of 91.5 percent. The bank was subsequently rebranded as
MNB Crnogorska Banka, then
NLB Banka Podgorica. ==See also==