Thursday 8 January 2009

Another one bites the dust

Another bank gets a cash injection; this time in Germany. This crisis has morphed from being about banks to being about government balance sheets.

Commerzbank, Germany's second-biggest bank, has said it is to be partly nationalised, with the government taking a 25% stake, plus one share. The bank is to receive 10bn euros (£9bn; $13.7bn) in a second injection pf capital from the German banking sector stabilisation fund, Soffin. Commerzbank had been seeking help after its 5.1bn euro takeover of rival Dresdner Bank from insurer Allianz.

Finance Ministry spokesman Torsten Albig said that the government's action was designed to secure Commerzbank's future. "The government's stake is not a partial privatisation, but rather shows our responsibility towards one of the biggest German players in the financial market, which, with a core capital ratio of around 10%, will now be able to position itself successfully and competitively."

3 comments:

Mark Wadsworth said...

An anagram of the Finance Minister's name is Angriest blot.

K T Cat said...

This is why the Germans have been avoiding participating in the stimulus race.

The bank bailout part, not the blot part. But the blot part is pretty funny.

Anonymous said...

well they were known in the market as ComedyBank