According to the restructuring plan submitted by the German government with the agreement of the shareholders, the so-called Verbundbank activities will be carved out in order to accommodate the Verbundbank.
On 30 June 2012, all assets and liabilities not carved out to the Verbundbank or sold will be transferred to the EAA. After 30 June 2012, WestLB will not engage in new banking business and will be transformed into a servicing platform including a run-down vehicle that holds legacy positions transferred to or hedged by EAA. A reduced number of employees will continue in the asset management and servicing company.
Background
WestLB is Germany's third-largest Landesbank. Its move from a regional bank servicing the savings banks to an investment bank with excessive risk taking is what caused its downfall.
WestLB had to be rescued even before the fall of Lehman Brothers in the autumn 2008. It has received a risk shield of €5 billion, a capital injection of €3 billion, and transferred toxic, impaired and non-strategic assets to a wind-down agency at €11 billion above their market value. An additional aid is necessary for the transformation into a servicing platform, which will be borne by the NRW authorities, Germany's federal agency SoFFin and German savings banks.
The board of owners of Landesbank Hessen-Thüringen (Helaba) gave its green light on 12 December 2011 to take over assets and liabilities related to the savings banks business, put together in so called "Verbundbank". Under the plan submitted to the Commission, all WestLB's remaining assets and liabilities, which have not been sold, will be transferred to Erste Abwicklungsanstalt (EAA), WestLB's wind-down agency, by 30 June 2012.
Press release
© European Commission
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