The Landesbank’s commission income increased by 28 percent to EUR 46 million.
(Photo: dpa)
Hanover In the dispute over the future direction of NordLB, which has been going on for months, the majority owner, Lower Saxony, has increased the pressure on the savings bank finance group, which also holds shares. Prime Minister Stephan Weil indicated that, in an emergency, a new ownership structure for the Landesbank would have to be considered.
Although it is his wish that the NordLB support community quickly find a common understanding that secures the future of NordLB in the long term, Weil said on Wednesday to the around 2,700 participants at the Savings Banks Day in Hanover. “But if this is not possible, then there is also the possibility of ending such a partnership amicably and amicably.”
What exactly he meant by that, Weil did not describe. Lower Saxony’s Ministry of Finance did not want to classify the statements and stated that the Prime Minister’s words stood for themselves.
However, it is conceivable that Weil alluded to the two Fides companies leaving the group of owners. Through this, the public banking sector had once jointly participated in the rescue of NordLB when it got into trouble due to bad ship loans. The companies now hold 24 percent of the NordLB shares.
In the public banking sector, some are bothered by NordLB’s growth ambitions, which are supported by the state of Lower Saxony, because they fear new risks. They are therefore blocking the introduction of a new bank control IT system. There has been no solution for months, which is paralyzing NordLB.
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NordLB did not want to comment and referred to its owners. The German Savings Banks and Giro Association (DSGV) explained that the sponsors were in constructive talks on all open questions. The Lower Saxony Ministry of Finance said that the state was very interested in working quickly on solutions with the other providers.
Group loss reduced
On Wednesday, NordLB also announced that it was in the red in the first quarter. The pre-tax result in the first quarter was minus eight million euros, as the institute from Hanover announced on Wednesday. A year ago, however, the loss was still 99 million euros.
Because of this improvement in earnings, NordLB boss Jörg Frischholz sees the bank on the right track. Now it is a matter of “continuing this positive trend” and successfully developing the bank further. “We are sticking to our growth path without losing sight of the issue of risk.”
The bottom line was the group loss of 15 million euros. A year ago, the minus was 78 million euros.
In 2022 as a whole, NordLB had more than tripled its pre-tax profit to EUR 104 million. The bank has now said that between January and March the start of the year was, as usual, burdened with payments for the bank levy and the deposit protection fund of EUR 68 million. While net interest income fell by three percent to EUR 229 million, net commission income climbed by 28 percent to EUR 46 million.
NordLB boss Frischholz’s appeal to keep an eye on the risk despite growth is likely to be addressed to the owners of the savings bank camp. Because criticism has been voiced there that NordLB, contrary to the restructuring plans, is now growing again instead of shrinking and is possibly taking too many risks.
In addition to NordLB, BayernLB is the only major state bank to post figures for the first quarter. It earned almost half a billion euros in the first three months, mainly thanks to higher interest income.
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