HSH Nordbank AG, the only German state bank partially owned by private investors, said Chief Executive Officer Hans Berger resigned, a week after the lender asked for government help.
The Hamburg-based bank accepted the 58 year-old CEO's offer to step down and will ask Chief Financial Officer Dirk Jens Nonnenmacher, 45, to take charge until further notice, HSH Nordbank said today in an e-mailed statement.
``The management board failed to foresee the degree of intensity and duration of the crisis and the risks for the bank's earnings that have come to light,'' Berger said in the statement. HSH Nordbank will post a ``negative result'' this year and ``I take responsibility for this,'' he added.
HSH Nordbank announced Nov. 3 that it will seek 30 billion euros ($38.6 billion) in debt guarantees from the government amid the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression.
Banks from UBS AG in Zurich to New York-based Citigroup Inc. are being forced to seek government rescues after the September bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. froze credit markets.
The bank last week reported a nine-month loss of almost 360 million euros after writedowns of 720 million euros. The lender said at the time that it may seek a capital injection from the government, as part of the country's 500 billion-euro financial industry rescue package.
Berger became HSH Nordbank's head in January 2007, having previously worked as deputy CEO. Nonnenmacher assumed the position of CFO in October 2007.
Georg Funke resigned Oct. 7 as CEO of Hypo Real Estate Holding AG after the German commercial property lender needed a 50 billion-euro bailout.
By Jann Bettinga, Nov. 10, 2008, Bloomberg
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So no spa?
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