United States of the Ionian Islands took Lefkada in 1810. The island of Corfu remained occupied by the French until 1814. The Congress of Vienna agreed to place the Ionian Islands under the exclusive "amical protection" of the United Kingdom. Despite British military administration, the Austrian Empire was guaranteed commercial status equal to the UK. The arrangement was formalised with the ratification of the "Maitland constitution" on 26 August 1817, which created a federation of the seven islands, with Lieutenant-General Sir Thomas Maitland its first "Lord High Commissioner of the Ionian Islands". The Party of Radicals (Greek: Κόμμα των Ριζοσπαστών) founded in 1848 was against the
Ionian Bank French banks were nationalized by Egypt at the same time. The next year IB sold its Greek assets to the Commercial Bank of Greece, which maintained IB as a separate entity, and its assets in Cyprus to the Chartered Bank. The Greek IB became the Ionian and Popular Bank of Greece by merging with its subsidiary, Popular Bank. Eventually, Alpha Bank purchased the Ionian and Popular Bank of Greece in 1999, and absorbed it in 2000. Commercial Bank of Greece bought IB's London branch. Ionian Bank The Ionian Bank (IB) was a British overseas bank that investors established in 1839