The Postscheckdienst was introduced in 1909 by the German Reich establishing accounts for payment transactions by mail and linking postal and banking services in German states. In 1990, following the German Postal Services Restructuring Act of 1989, the German Postal Service was divided into three companies, Deutsche Post, Deutsche Telekom and Postbank. Later that year, Deutsche Post Postbank of the former East Germany was merged with Postbank. From 1990 to 1997, Dr. Guenter Schneider was chairman of the board. The first board of Postbank consisted of Guenter Schneider, Rudolf Bauer and Bernhard Zurhorst. On 1 January 1995, following the new postal reform legislation of 1994, Postbank became an independent, joint stock company. Postbank then extended operations, and engaged in loans, insurance and homes savings. In 1999, Deutsche Post became the owner of Postbank. In that same year, Postbank acquired DSL Bank by the sale of the government's shares. Postbank subsidiary easytrade began offering on-line brokerage services in 2000. Postbank purchased BHF Holdings Inc. in 2001. By 2003, Postbank had 11.5 million customers, more than any other bank in Germany. On 1 January 2004 the postal bank took over the transaction banking of the Deutsche Bank and the Dresdner Bank. From then on Postbank executed the clearing and settlement of Deutsche Bank and Dresdner Bank's payment transactions. This agreement strengthened the bank’s new business field "Transaction Bank" in the apron of the announced Initial Public Offering. The IPO of Postbank on 23 June 2004 was the largest stock market launch in Germany for the past 2 years. Deutsche Post retained a controlling stake of 50% plus one share. On 25 October 2005 Postbank announced its intention to acquire a 76.4 percent stake of the home financing specialist, Beamten-Heimstättenwerk. With the acquisition of BHW Deutsche Postbank became Germany’s leading financial services provider for retail customers. On 1 January 2006 the purchase of BHW Holding by Deutsche Postbank was concluded. Beyond that Deutsche Postbank took over 850 branches from Deutsche Post. Along with the change in ownership, around 9,600 employees switched employer, bringing Postbank's workforce to over 25,000 employees. In September 2008, 30% of Postbank was sold to Deutsche Bank for €2.8 billion. In October 2010, Postbank put its Indian finance business up for sale. Deutsche Bank gained a majority stake in the firm through a tender offer completed in December 2010, and exercised its option to acquire the remainder of Deutsche Post's holding in 2012. In the end, the total purchase cost Deutsche Bank €6 billion. Since May 2018, Postbank has been merged with the DB Privat- und Firmenkundenbank as a subsidiary of Deutsche Bank.
