Initially, the shareholder of the bank was the German Central Bank, and since 1968, the State Bank of the GDR (64 percent of shares), the East German foreign trade company VEB “Metallurgie GmbH” in Berlin (14.06 percent), “Verwaltungs-GmbH” (10.31 percent), “Kali-Bergbau-Handelsgesellschaft mbH” (5.63%), and “Auslands-und Rückversicherungs-AG der DDR (DARAG)” (1 percent)