According to previous information from NordLB, the bank management should cost a mid-three-digit million euro amount. According to financial circles, it is now likely to decrease.
(Photo: dpa)
Berlin The owners of Norddeutsche Landesbank have settled their months-long dispute over the institute’s new IT system. The bank’s committees had given their approval for the introduction of a new bank management system, the Hanover-based financial institution announced on Monday evening.
In the first phase, key processes in finance, reporting channels for banking supervision and risk controlling are to be fundamentally modernized by 2026. “It is good that the bank can now start the project to renew the bank management,” said Lower Saxony’s finance minister and NordLB supervisory board chairman Gerald Heere. “It will be another important building block for NordLB’s successful transformation into a sustainably profitable and low-risk bank.”
The fundamental conflict between the owners has been evident in bank management for months: While the majority owner Lower Saxony wants to use the bank to finance medium-sized businesses and the energy transition, the savings banks do not want too much growth and certainly no risk.
Bank control should cost a three-digit million euro amount
Insiders recently emphasized that the introduction of the new IT system in three phases allows for the opportunity to make further adjustments. According to previous information from NordLB, the bank management should cost a mid-three-digit million euro amount. According to financial circles, it is now likely to decrease. According to the Reuters news agency, more than 100 million euros are earmarked for the first phase.
NordLB boss Jörg Frischholz said he was pleased with “the trust the providers have in the path we have taken.” We will do everything we can to ensure the success of the project. “The new IT systems will now also give NordLB the future-oriented technological capabilities that are necessary for stable further development.”
If you want to understand the dispute between the state and the savings banks, you have to know the history. NordLB had gambled away with bad shipping loans and had to be rescued by its owners with 3.6 billion euros at the end of 2019. In addition to Lower Saxony, savings banks and state banks nationwide also stepped in to prevent the settlement. That’s why it would be a thorn in the side of these new owners if NordLB were to grow too much and take too much risk. Lower Saxony holds 57.5 percent of NordLB and Saxony-Anhalt 6.3 percent. The rest goes to the savings bank warehouse.
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