HSH Nordbank

HSH Nordbank is a commercial bank in northern Europe with headquarters in Hamburg as well as Kiel, Germany. It is active in corporate and private banking. Considered to be the world’s largest provider of maritime finance, its main focus is on shipping, transportation, real estate and renewable energy. The bank was created as a result of a merger between Hamburgische Landesbank and Landesbank Schleswig-Holstein on June 2, 2003. HSH has significant operations in Luxembourg, New York City, London (the Bank no longer has an office in London) and Singapore. As of 12/2009 it employed 4,188 people worldwide.As of 12/2009 HSH Nordbank had a balance sheet of EUR 174.5 billion and reported a loss of EUR 678 mn.OwnershipThe shareholders are:In the merger the City of Hamburg and the State of Schleswig-Holstein agreed to hold the majority of shares at least until End of 2013.Financial crisis of 2007-2010HSH Nordbank buckled under excessive risk-taking prior to the financial crisis of 2007-2010, when it had sought to expand beyond its roots as a regional lender to companies and savings banks into global capital markets. With the beginning of the crisis, HSH had to report losses on their credit investment portfolio. In September 2008 HSH Nordbank announced further writedowns. As a direct consequence the CEO Hans Berger stepped down and in the following weeks HSH announced extensive restructuring. Branches in Copenhagen and Hong Kong were reduced to representations and new business will be focussed on the core region in northern Germany.