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’Armageddon Bank
Amagerbanken is a small bank in Denmark — but its failure could end up having big consequences for investors in bank debt. It might end up being a relatively rare instance of a bank’s senior unsecured investors (and depositors) taking a hit.
WestLB seeks more state support
WestLB is scrambling for fresh financial support as its owners wrangle with the German government over a capital rescue for the stricken Landesbank. WestLB said on Tuesday it was in “intensive and constructive” talks with Soffin,
WestLB sheds debt via ‘bad bank’
WestLB, hit hard by the financial crisis, will become Germany’s first lender to create a “bad bank” after agreeing on Wednesday to offload at least €87bn ($128bn) in non-strategic assets. The publicly-owned Landesbank is one of only a few German banks expected to utilise the scheme,
One peeved Landesbank
WestLB, fuming even, on learning that rating agency S&P has downgraded the German institution from A- to BBB+ with a negative outlook. Out pops a statement in protest:
The decision of S&P is, in our opinion,
Brussels weighs WestLB decision
The European Commission is aiming to take a decision on restructuring plans at WestLB, the ailing German regional bank, before the summer, antitrust officials said Tuesday. Last week, the bank’s owners accepted that attempts to engineer a merger of WestLB with other players in Germany’s state-owned Landesbanken sector had failed,
WestLB owners plan sell-off
WestLB’s owners plan to put the bank up for sale through an auction that could herald a wider shake-up of Germany’s state-owned Landesbank sector. The bank expects the offer to satisfy a promise to the European Commission to seek a change in its ownership,
Kroes rebuffs WestLB restructure
Germany’s public sector banks are coming under pressure for wide-ranging reform after Neelie Kroes, EU competition commissioner, made clear she would reject a restructuring plan submitted by WestLB, the Landesbank.
How Pfandbriefe saved the day
BayernLB, became, on Thursday, the latest of the German Landesbanken to post another damaging loss. At $6.7bn the writedown isn’t big by international standards, but relative to size, it’s large enough.
WestLB to slash staff after losses
WestLB will retrench its global operations as it tries to recover from heavy subprime exposure that forced it into a wider-than-expected €1.6bn ($2.5bn) loss last year. The Düsseldorf-based lender said it would “focus on core competencies” in fewer locations and slash jobs at home and abroad to reduce staff by at least 20%.
A Landesbanken M-LEC?
Here’s a big bad round number: Germany’s four Landesbanks together have total exposure of €80bn to potentially toxic US subprime and they are now considering setting up a special purpose vehicle to hold all the infected paper.
WestLB close to deal over Boxclever
WestLB, the troubled German bank, was Monday close to agreeing a settlement deal to resolve a high-profile lawsuit brought by French bank Natixis over the collapse of TV rentals business Boxclever six years ago.
West LB’s “non-permanent” writedowns
The owners of West LB are set to stump up €2bn to help offset losses for last year at the German public sector bank and to absorb writedowns of about €1bn. The bank expects to report an annual loss of €1bn for 2007.
Bundesbank head joins WestLB talks
Owners of WestLB were on Sunday night meeting over the future strategy of the German public sector bank, which has been hit by a trading scandal as well as the global credit squeeze. WestLB refused to comment on the details of the gathering,
German banks forced into new $15bn SIV rescue
Two German Landesbanken – WestLB and HSH Nordbank – have been forced to offer huge support lines to two troubled SIVs. More evidence that SIVs are plumbing new lows.
WestLB has provided an $11bn credit line to an off balance sheet structured investment vehicle,
More trouble ahead for German Landesbanken
Germany’s banks are in a mess. Two of the smaller Landesbanks, SachsenLB and IKB, were the first casualties of the credit crunch – imploding as they did way back in August.
Focus shifted when things started to go awry elsewhere in the world.
WestLB strategy backfires — again
WestLB’s desire to bet on the international capital markets to compensate for weak profits at home has cost the German public sector bank several hundred million euros for the second time in less than a year.
WestLB to slash jobs ahead of merger
WestLB, the German bank that lost €604m ($861m) from its proprietary-trading business during the credit crisis, is preparing to cut as many as 600 jobs in its home market as it paves the way for a merger with a rival,
Berlin urges bank consolidation
Peer Steinbrück, Germany’s finance minister, on Tuesday increased political pressure on regional governments to speed up consolidation of the country’s public-sector Landesbanken, warning them not to further delay “inevitable” change.
JC Flowers ‘vying’ for WestLB
US private equity group JC Flowers is keen to expand its presence in German state-backed banks by buying the 38 per cent stake in the ailing Landesbank WestLB held by the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW),
Don’t mention the… subprime exposure
The German banking sector is undergoing some necessary pain, insist the schoolmarms at the Bavarian Finance Centre in today’s FT. The Landesbanken have been having a hard time of late – first IKB went under,
WestLB trading investigation launched
German state prosecutors on Wednesday launched a formal investigation of seven former and current executives at WestLB including Thomas Fischer, the former chief executive, for their roles in the stock trading scandal that has rocked the German public bank.
Landesbank merger shapes up
A merger between WestLB and LBBW, two public-sector German Landesbanken, moved closer on Tuesday after a second major shareholder in WestLB urged the banks to join forces. The savings banks association of Westphalia-Lippe,
WestLB chief intensifies German disquiet
The uncertainty gripping Germany’s banks intensified Tuesday after the chief executive of one of its leading lenders issued an unusually frank warning about the troubled state of the country’s banking industry.
Another hapless analyst….
It’s unfair. It’s so, so unfair. But we’re going to do it anyway.
Spare a thought for the analysts who on Tuesday upgraded their recommendation on BNP Paribas to ‘Buy’ from ‘Add.’
How were they to know? The analysts from this German bank,
Scandal-hit WestLB dismisses chief
WestLB on Thursday dismissed Thomas Fischer as chief executive following the stock trading scandal that has rocked the German Landesbank. Rolf Gerlach, WestLB’s chairman, said the dismissals of Mr Fischer,
Saunders pays €1m to settle BoxClever case
Robin Saunders, the former City financier, has paid €1m to settle a case brought against her for the loan made to TV rental group BoxClever that plunged her former employer, the German bank WestLB, into the red,
WestLB to reject LBBW merger
WestLB, the publicly-owned German Landesbank, is seeking a merger with another bank, but people close to the supervisory board said it had decided against a deal with southern rival LBBW. Consolidation
Spotlight falls on WestLB over Daimler stake
WestLB, the German regional bank, threw markets into confusion on Thursday when it suddenly disclosed it had become the biggest shareholder in DaimlerChrysler. The bank’s abrupt disclosure of a 14 per
WestLB ‘inadvertently’ amasses 14% in DaimlerChrysler
WestLB had a touch of egg on its face on Thursday as it was forced to admit it had inadvertently amassed 14% in German carmaker DaimlerChrysler.
Two people familiar with the transaction told the FT that the same suspected rogue traders who were fired by WestLB after taking large positions in fellow carmaker Volkswagen that breached internal rules on risk,
What prop traders can learn from WestLB
Treat other people’s money as if it were your own is normally sound advice for anyone dealing in financial markets. But at WestLB, perhaps it should be the other way around, says the FT’s Paul Betts in his European View column.