German shipping lender Bremer Landesbank has denied media reports alleging that the European Central Bank had asked it to boost its capital against non-performing shipping loans with up to EUR 700 million (USD 795 million) in equity.
The report emerged in German weekly magazine Focus on Saturday, basing its claims on talks between the city-state’s finance chief and parliamentary leaders.
However, the bank said in a statement that both the claim on the request from the ECB and the amount of capital required is “factually inaccurate and unfounded.”
Earlier in June, the bank said that due to the continuing difficult market conditions in ship-financing it expects to log EUR 400 million in unplanned value adjustments. For the entire financial year 2016, the bank expects unplanned value adjustments in its portfolio of shipping loans to reach a “high three-digit million figure”, as no significant recovery in the sector is expected in the mid-term.
Bremer Landesbank said that its current capital and profit reserves, which count as equity, total in EUR 1.078 billion, and that it has a fund for general banking risks pursuant to § 340g HGB in the amount of EUR 589 million, both of which would, as of now, be available to absorb the expected annual loss.
In addition, the bank noted that it has launched “ measures to strengthen Bremer Landesbank’s equity” . However, further details on the type of measures being pursued were not disclosed.
World Maritime News Staff