Private company

Banco Internacional de São Tomé e Príncipe

Logo: Transferred from fr.wikipedia to Commons. ( https://www.telanon.info/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/bistp.jpg ), Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons3

International bank of Sao Tome and Principe

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 14 branches. Its name translates to International Bank of São Tomé and Príncipe.2 It is part of Caixa Geral de Depósitos.1 Wikipedia text CC BY-SA 4.0

Last updated Oct 20, 2026.

Overview

Mar 3, 1993Founded1
  • HeadquartersSão Tomé1

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 14 branches. Its name translates to International Bank of São Tomé and Príncipe.2

Corporate structure

Banco Internacional de São Tomé e Príncipe is part of a group headed by Caixa Geral de Depósitos. 14 entities, 9 countries on record. Switch between the flow chart and the network, and select any entity to see its details.

Built from parent and subsidiary links from GLEIF, the Global Legal Entity Identifier Foundation (CC0); subsidiaries, stakes and holdings from Wikidata (CC0); major holders from Schedules 13D and 13G. Each entity in the chart links to its source.

The story

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, on March 3, 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 back to Banco Nacional Utlramarino's entry in 1868.) The Portuguese bank, Caixa Geral de Depósitos, which had acquired Banco Nacional Ultramarino in 1988, merged with it fully in 2001. In 2000, Banco Santander acquired Banco Totta e Açores and disposed of its interest in BISTP to Caixa Geral de Depósitos, which now owns 52% of BISTP. It became an entirely a private company in 2003. In 2007, it had three branches, the number expanded to 14 in 2014 in two islands.

In 2009, it had announced that the banking services started to offer online under the name BISTP KWA Non.

From Wikipedia’s article on Banco Internacional de São Tomé e Príncipe, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.4

Subsidiaries and ownership

Parent company

Owners

From Wikidata.1

Timeline

  1. Mar 3, 1993Founded Founded1