The bank that was originally founded in 1989 as Tekfen Yatırım Finansman Bankası AŞ (Tekfen Investment Finance Bank Inc), quickly joined the ranks of Turkey's most prestigious financial institutions in the areas of corporate banking and investment banking products and services. After doing business through a single branch for more than a decade, in 2001 the bank embarked upon a new growth strategy which involved putting its accumulated knowledge and experience to work through an expansion into the domain of commercial banking as well. That year, Tekfen acquired Bank Ekspres, a medium-sized commercial bank, as a manifestation of this strategy. In 2006 the Tekfen Group entered into a strategic partnership agreement with Eurobank EFG, as a result of which move the bank's name was changed to Eurobank Tekfen. On 21 December 2012, the Burgan Bank Group became the bank's majority shareholder with its acquisition of a 99.26% stake as a result of its purchase of shares previously belonging to Eurobank and Tekfen Holding. Formalities pertaining to the change of the bank's legal name were initiated and completed as required and the bank began doing business under its new name, Burgan Bank AŞ, effective 28 January 2013. Burgan Bank AŞ's majority shareholder, the Burgan Bank Group, is a Kuwait-based financial services group and a leading financial services provider in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) with four other majority-held subsidiaries in Algeria (Gulf Bank Algeria), Iraq (Bank of Baghdad), Jordan (Jordan Kuwait Bank), and Tunisia (Tunis International Bank).