The Berliner Pfandbriefinstitut was founded in 1868, and was later re-named the Berliner Pfandbriefamt. The Berliner Pfandbrief-Bank, a public-law institution, came into being in 1973 as the legal successor to the following former banks and banking associations:

On 4 January 1993, the bank was transformed into a public stock corporation and also re-named the Berliner Hypotheken- und Pfandbriefbank AG, known as Berlin Hyp for short. The State of Berlin was the founder and held all the shares in the new company. A year later, all bank shares were brought into the newly formed Landesbank Berlin Holding AG The Berliner Hypotheken- und Pfandbriefbank AG and the Braunschweig-Hannoversche Hypothekenbank AG were then merged in a two-stage procedure in 1996: the Berlin-Hannoversche Hypothekenbank AG was born, and the abbreviated name Berlin Hyp was retained.