Glitnir is an Icelandic bank. It was created by the state-directed merger of the country's three privately held banks - Alþýðubanki, Verzlunarbanki and Iðnaðarbanki - and one failing publicly held bank - Útvegsbanki - to form Íslandsbanki in 1990. Established in 1904, the bank was first known as Íslandsbanki. The name Glitnir was chosen in 2006 to reflect their wider Nordic tradition and to distinguish a new era of growth and expansion.