A merger would benefit HSH Nordbank and NordLB, which have both been hit hard by poor shipping markets, association head Reinhard Boll told the financial newspaper Boersen Zeitung.
“If shareholders agreed on a combination, that would be a step that I would very much welcome,” Boll said. The SGVSH holds a 5.3% stake in HSH Nordbank.
Boll admits there is little sign of the two banks combining in the foreseeable future, and he is not aware of any merger talks between them.
NordLB has total assets of EUR 204bn while HSH Nordbank has EUR 116 bn.
The two banks were among those flagged up as most vulnerable to their exposure to the distressed shipping sector late last year in a report by Moodys and they are among those expected to struggle with the ECB’s asset quality review and stress tests this year.
Early last year administrations of Hamburg and Schleswig-Holstein raised their loss guarantees to HSH Nordbank by EUR 3bn ($3.88bn) to EUR 10bn to help the bank cover its bad shipping loans.
Boll, who is also president of the Kiel Savings Bank, says he does not think the EU Commission will impose any conditions on state aid to the banks.
