Banco Internacional de São Tomé e Príncipe

Banco Internacional de São Tomé e Príncipe (BISTP) is the largest and oldest commercial bank in São Tomé and Príncipe. It consists of a head office and three branches. The bank was formed when the government converted National Bank of São Tomé and Príncipe from a combined central, development, and commercial bank into a pure central bank, Central Bank of São Tomé and Príncipe, in 1993. The government joined with two Portuguese banks, Banco Nacional Ultramarino and Banco Totta e Açores, to establish BISTP. The government owned 42%, and the two banks shared 52%. (The government had created National Bank of São Tomé and Príncipe in 1975 out of the branch of Banco Nacional Ultramarino. The bank, therefore, in a sense can trace its history...