It specializes in four core businesses: deposit-taking, real-estate related financing, receivables management and credit cards.

Additionally, within the framework of factoring collaborations, Hanseatic Bank acquires receivables from companies within and outside of the Otto Group.

The bank was founded in 1969 as a consumer credit institution to finance goods purchased by customers of the mail order firm Otto Versand.

[5] Its initial activity consisted of providing Otto customers with consumer credits for their purchases from mail-order catalogues and managing the corresponding payment transactions.

In addition to issuing consumer loans, savings certificates and deposits made it possible for customers to make secure investments.

[7] In 2005, the major French bank Société Générale acquired 75 percent of the shares; Otto Group continues to own a 25-percent stake.