The Sahara Bank was established in 1964 as a subsidiary of Banco di Sicilia.
[1] On 22 December 1970, a law was passed that demanding that all foreign bank shares be nationalized and completely owned by Libya.
The head office of the bank was located in Libya's capital, Tripoli.
[3] In July 2007, France's BNP Paribas acquired 19 per cent share of the Sahara bank.
[citation needed] BNP pulled out of the operations of the bank in 2011, following revolutions in Libya.