Note: The Wiesbaden City Archive does not hold any documents from the former Deutsche Pfandbriefanstalt (Depfa). In particular, the Wiesbaden City Archives cannot issue deletion authorizations for land register entries. Please contact the legal successor of Depfa. Information on the successor company can be obtained from the legal successor bank of the Berufsverband der Bayerischen Notariatsbeamten und fachkundigen Mitarbeiter der Notarkasse e. V.

Deutsche Pfandbriefgesellschaft (Depfa) was founded in 1922 as "Preußische Landespfandbriefanstalt" in Berlin with the aim of financing small-scale housing construction. In 1949 it moved its headquarters to Wiesbaden and from 1951 was called "Deutsche Pfandbriefanstalt". From 1950-66, around 410,000 apartments were built with the help of its mortgages. In the 1960s, a further business segment developed with the financing of municipal loans. Depfa expanded its business activities again by acquiring a majority stake in Deutsche Bau- und Bodenbank AG in 1979. By 1987, the number of employees had risen to over 700, making it one of the most important employers in Wiesbaden. In 1989/90, Depfa was transformed into a public limited company. Following the IPO in 1991, the bank developed into a pan-European financial and services group.

In 2001, the company was split into a public finance bank, the independent Depfa Bank plc, a public limited company under Irish law with its registered office in Dublin, and Aareal Bank for real estate financing and services. The latter became an independent, listed public limited company headquartered in Wiesbaden. Depfa plc merged with Hypo Real Estate in 2007. Among other things, Depfa's investments in securities in the so-called subprime sector led to the bank's major difficulties in the 2008/09 financial crisis, which resulted in nationalization after enormous state financial aid. After another attempt at restructuring, it was wound up in 2014.