Dhe Landesbank Hessen-Thüringen ( Helaba ) is giving up its representative office in Moscow, which it opened in 2008. The representative office has been closed since the Russian attack on Ukraine and will never be reopened, CEO Thomas Groß told journalists on Thursday when the half-year report was published.
CFO Detlef Hosemann explained that, based on Helaba’s EUR 53 billion in receivables from companies, its direct Russia risk of EUR 30 million, which is also secured with export insurance, is “very manageable”. 1.3 billion euros in the portfolio would be significantly affected by Russia, for example because Russia is an important sales market for the borrower. 13 billion euros in risks can be attributed to disrupted supply chains. However, the risk situation at Helaba was very relaxed at the end of the first half of the year, emphasized Groß and Hosemann.
Hardly any real loan defaults
In fact, the published figures cannot be read any other way. Helaba, known as a very conservative bank, could even have reversed the risk provisions made in the first half of 2022 if it had followed its risk measurement models alone. And the specific individual failures amounted to just 2 million euros.
But Helaba, like Commerzbank, agreed with its auditor on flat-rate provisions (top-level adjustments) because it suspects that the general conditions in 2022 will change “particularly due to the turmoil in the energy sector, the worsening supply chain bottlenecks and the development of inflation”. cloud over. “The recession will have an impact on loan defaults with a time lag,” says the semi-annual report.
Management promises profit
But even in the currently worst conceivable scenario, Helaba, which belongs to Hesse and Thuringia and 40 percent of the German savings banks, will achieve a “clearly, clearly positive” consolidated result in 2022, said Groß. If, on the other hand, there is no economic downturn, Helaba will earn at least EUR 500 million before taxes in 2022, according to the forecast presented by the Management Board on Thursday. After the first six months it was 327 million euros before taxes, 34 million euros more than a year ago. The return on equity after taxes (Red) was large at 6.4 percent. Loan loss provisions, almost exclusively general provisions, amounted to EUR 85 million after EUR 141 million a year ago.
Helaba had to pay EUR 35 million more than usual into the security reserve of the state banks because DKB, an important contributor, switched to the private banking association. Groß kept a low profile on the costs of the cum-ex trial with Société Générale, which was carried to the Federal Court of Justice but has now been lost.
