Banka Kombëtare Tregtare (BKT) was established in January 1993 by merging BTSH and BKSH.

Particularly on 6 July 2000, The Albanian Parliament approved the sale contract between the Ministry of Finance and the Consortium of International Investors consisting of Kentbank with 60% of the shares, International Finance Corporation (IFC) with 20%, and European Bank for Reconstruction and Development with 20%.

At that moment, the young and dynamic team of professionals that the bank employed was committed to achieving perfection.

Eventually after the decision to expand in Kosovo in September 2007,[4] the institution already had 24 branches opened, ranking the largest Albanian bank in the region.

On 30 June 2009, Çalik Financial Services bought the shares of the IFC and EBRD, and thus became the bank's sole shareholder.