Ionian Bank up its banking licence. The Greek operation, renamed "Ionian Popular Bank", was absorbed into Alpha Bank in 2000. A "decree of the Eminent Senate of the Commonwealth of Ionian Islands" established the Ionian State Bank in 1839, to finance trade between the Ionian Islands (a British protectorate), and Great Britain. This made the bank the oldest in Greece. The bank received a 20-year grant of the exclusive privilege of issuing and circulating banknotes for the Ionian Islands. The bank soon changed its name to Ionian Bank (IB), and initially only operated in the Ionian Islands, opening branches in Corfu, Aante
Albanian Ionian Sea Coast to the mountainous terrain of the country, the western lowlands consists mostly of coastal lowlands and plains. The Albanian Ionian Sea Coast is known for its rugged natural beauty, with rocky highlands and a great marine life, while the Albanian Adriatic Sea Coast consist of sandy beaches and shallow coastal waters. The coastline covers an extensive part of the Ceraunian Mountains, which extends parallel immediately along the Ionian Sea, starting at Sarandë, running for over 100 kilometers in a southeast-northwest direction along the Albanian Riviera, to Orikum. The mountainous interior is fragmented into several massifs often reaching 2,000 metres above