Lazy boat loans: ECB intervenes at HSH Nordbank by – SPIEGEL ONLINE

The European Central Bank (ECB) makes the restructuring of HSH Nordbank pressure. The ailing Landesbank must get rid of at the insistence of the operating units within the ECB’s Banking Supervision at risk of default loans in the billions range. This was reported by Reuters and refers to people who are familiar with the process.

For HSH have the great importance in drawing up its reconstruction plan, currently being negotiated by the Institute with its owners and the EU Commission. This rotten ship loans are to be outsourced to a special purpose vehicle, according to financial circles.

The ECB urges the According to insiders quoted by Reuters, the proportion at risk of default loans (non-performing loans, NPL) decreases in the total loan portfolio of the Bank in the coming years to ten to twelve percent. Currently, HSH has almost 16 billion euros in bad loans on the books, which corresponds to a NPL ratio of 22.8 percent, according to an investor presentation by the end of May. Thus it is clearly worse off than other German banks, which usually have an NPL ratio in the low single digits.

The HSH Nordbank is suffering as much as any other German bank by the crisis in the shipping industry, where it large overcapacity are. As part of its reorganization, the Institute wants to move as many rotten ship loans in a government SPV. The remaining HSH would be much smaller and would have – as requested by the ECB – a lower NPL ratio. Many detailed questions have not yet been clarified, moved about as many credits in the new unit and the values ​​are stated here. According to Reuters addition is not yet clear how strong outsource a government guarantee is claimed, are protected by the 94 percent of the impaired exposures HSH loans.

HSH, the majority of the states of Hamburg and Schleswig -Holstein belongs wanted to give an opinion to the demand from Frankfurt. An ECB spokeswoman said that supervision outside not to individual institutions. But they stressed: “In the view of the ECB’s Banking Supervision represent a large potential credit loss risk Therefore, among the supervisory focus on 2015..”