Danamon was established in 1956 under the name of Bank Kopra Indonesia. The name was then changed to its present name, PT Bank Danamon Indonesia in 1976. In 1988, Danamon became a foreign exchange bank and a year later was publicly listed in the Jakarta Stock Exchange.
In the wake of the Asian financial crisis in 1998, Danamon was placed under the supervision of the Indonesian Bank Restructuring Agency (IBRA) as a Bank Taken Over (BTO). In 1999, the Government of Indonesia, through IBRA, recapitalized Danamon with Rp32.2 trillion of government bonds. Within the same year Bank PDFCI, another BTO, was merged with Danamon as part of the restructuring program of IBRA. In 2000, Danamon completed another merger with eight other BTOs (Bank Tiara, Bank Duta, Bank Rama, Bank Tamara, Bank Nusa Nasional, Bank Pos Nusantara, Jayabank International and Bank Risjad Salim Internasional). As part of this merger package, Danamon received a second recapitalization from the government through a capital injection of Rp28.9 trillion. As the surviving entity, Danamon emerged from the merger as one of the country’s largest private banks. Following the recapitalization and the merger, Danamon underwent further extensive restructuring involving the Bank’s management, employees, organization, systems, and corporate identity. The efforts succeeded in laying down new foundations and infrastructure for Danamon to pursue growth based on integrity, professionalism, transparency and responsibility. In 2003, Danamon was acquired by Asia Financial (Indonesia) Pte. Ltd., a consortium of Fullerton Financial Holding, a fully owned subsidiary of Temasek Holdings, and Deutsche Bank AG, which took a majority controlling stake.