Helaba, short for
Landesbank
In German-speaking jurisdictions, ''Landesbank'' (plural ), , refers to a category of public sector banks that are owned by one or more of the ''Länder'' ( federated internally self-governing states). Institutions of this type exist in most Ge ...
Hessen-Thüringen, is a commercial bank with core regions in
Hesse
Hesse or Hessen ( ), officially the State of Hesse (), is a States of Germany, state in Germany. Its capital city is Wiesbaden, and the largest urban area is Frankfurt, which is also the country's principal financial centre. Two other major hist ...
and
Thuringia
Thuringia (; officially the Free State of Thuringia, ) is one of Germany, Germany's 16 States of Germany, states. With 2.1 million people, it is 12th-largest by population, and with 16,171 square kilometers, it is 11th-largest in area.
Er ...
,
Germany
Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...
offering financial services to companies, banks, institutional investors and the public sector, both within Germany and internationally. At the same time, it is the central clearing institution and service provider for 40 percent of German savings banks. Helaba is an institution incorporated under public law. With approximately 6,300 employees and two headquarters in
Frankfurt
Frankfurt am Main () is the most populous city in the States of Germany, German state of Hesse. Its 773,068 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the List of cities in Germany by population, fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located in the forela ...
and
Erfurt
Erfurt () is the capital (political), capital and largest city of the Central Germany (cultural area), Central German state of Thuringia, with a population of around 216,000. It lies in the wide valley of the Gera (river), River Gera, in the so ...
, the bank maintains branches in Düsseldorf and Kassel as well as offices in Berlin, Stuttgart, Munich and Muenster. On an international level, Helaba acts through branches and representative offices in Paris, London, New York, Madrid, Moscow, Shanghai, and Singapore. Frankfurter Sparkasse, the leading retail bank in the Rhine-Main region, is a wholly owned subsidiary of Helaba. The Helaba Group also comprises the online bank 1822direkt, LBS Hessen-Thüringen and WIBank. The latter implements development programmes of the State of Hesse. Further Helaba subsidiaries are Helaba Invest Kapitalanlagegesellschaft, Frankfurter Bankgesellschaft and the OFB Group (
real estate development
Real estate development, or property development, is a business process, encompassing activities that range from the renovation and re-lease of existing buildings to the purchase of raw Real Estate, land and the sale of developed land or parce ...
).
Helaba has been designated as a Significant Institution since the entry into force of
European Banking Supervision
European Banking Supervision, also known as the Single Supervisory Mechanism (SSM), is the policy framework for the prudential supervision of banks in the euro area. It is centered on the European Central Bank (ECB), whose supervisory arm is re ...
in late 2014, and as a consequence is directly supervised by the
European Central Bank
The European Central Bank (ECB) is the central component of the Eurosystem and the European System of Central Banks (ESCB) as well as one of seven institutions of the European Union. It is one of the world's Big Four (banking)#International ...
.
Business activities
The business field “Wholesale customer business” comprises financial services for enterprises, banks and institutional investors. In the business field of “private customers and small and medium-sized enterprise (SMEs)”, through its S-Group Bank, Helaba provides services for the S-Group savings banks in Hesse, Thuringia, North Rhine-Westphalia and Brandenburg. the framework of “public development and infrastructure business”, Helaba serves the development support programmes of the regional state of Hesse and participates in the development institutions and agencies in Hesse and Thuringia. Also GWH, one of Hesse’s biggest housing corporations, belongs to Helaba.
History
On June 1, 1953, Hessische Landesbank Girozentrale arose from the merger of Hessische Landesbank Darmstadt Girozentrale (founded in 1940), Nassauische Landesbank Wiesbaden (founded in 1940) and Landeskreditkasse zu Kassel (founded in 1832). In the 1970s, a financial scandal in relation to
Tibor Rosenbaum brought Hessische Landesbank into serious difficulties. On July 1, 1992, a state treaty between Hesse and Thuringia on uniting the savings banks organizations of the two federal states brought about the creation of a joint Landesbank. As a result, it was the first Landesbank to operate outside a single federal state’s boundary. In the year 2005, Helaba acquired Frankfurter Sparkasse and thereby entered further into private customer business, which it had already conducted through its Darmstadt Branch and at its Kassel location through Landeskreditkasse zu Kassel.
In 2007,
Jürgen Rüttgers and
Roland Koch, the minister-presidents of
North Rhine-Westphalia
North Rhine-Westphalia or North-Rhine/Westphalia, commonly shortened to NRW, is a States of Germany, state () in Old states of Germany, Western Germany. With more than 18 million inhabitants, it is the List of German states by population, most ...
and Hesse, tentatively agreed on approving a merger of their respective state-owned banks, Helaba and
WestLB; however, WestLB was eventually broken up in 2012 after years of losses and controversy. During his time in office, CEO Hans-Dieter Brenner later advocated a merger of Helaba with
DekaBank, the fund manager for the country's savings banks.
In 2014, Helaba entered a joint venture with U.S. banking group
BNY Mellon
The Bank of New York Mellon Corporation, commonly known as BNY, is an American international financial services company headquartered in New York City. It was established in its current form in July 2007 by the merger of the Bank of New York an ...
and the country's 25 largest savings banks to help corporate customers to expand foreign trade with Asia. In late 2018, it acquired Dexia Kommunalbank Deutschland, the German unit of Franco-Belgian bank
Dexia, for 352 million euros ($398 million).
In July 2011 it was reported that Helaba would pull out of the EU's bank stress tests to avoid public failure.
Governance
Legal form and owners
Helaba has legal capacity as an institution incorporated under public law.
Owners and guarantors of Landesbank Hessen-Thüringen are the Sparkassen- und Giroverband Hessen-Thüringen (85%) (Savings Banks and Giro Association of Hesse-Thuringia), the Federal State of Hesse (10%) and the Free State of Thuringia (5%). The governing bodies of the bank are the Owners’ Assembly, the Supervisory Board and the Board of Managing Directors. CEO of Landesbank Hessen-Thüringen is Hans-Dieter Brenner.
Board of Managing Directors
* Thomas Groß
* Tamara Weiß
* Hans-Dieter Kemler
* Frank Nickel
* Christian Rhino
* Christian Schmidt
Former Chairs of the Board of Managing Directors
* Hans-Herbert Grüntker (2015 - 2020)
*
Hans-Dieter Brenner (2009 - 2015)
* Dr Günther Merl (2001–2008)
* Walter Schäfer (1996–2001)
* Dr Hermann-Adolf Kunisch (1995–1996)
* Dr Karl Kauermann (1993–1995)
* Dr Herbert J. Kazmierzak (1985–1993)
* Heinz Sippel (1975–1985)
* Dr Wilhelm Hankel (1971–1973)
* Gustav Bothe (1971)
* Dr Wilhelm Conrad (1964–1971)
* Dr Herbert Lauffer (1953–1964)
Headquarters
The foundation stone of the
Main Tower
Main Tower is a 56-storey, skyscraper in the Innenstadt (Frankfurt am Main), Innenstadt district of Frankfurt, Germany. It is named after the nearby Main (river), Main river. The building is when its antenna tower, antenna spire is included.
...
was laid in October 1996. Three years later, the bank moved into the building. With a height of 200 metres, it is the fourth-highest skyscraper in Frankfurt. Earlier, the bank was headquartered in the adjacent building, now called Garden Towers.
Controversy
In 2023, the
European Central Bank
The European Central Bank (ECB) is the central component of the Eurosystem and the European System of Central Banks (ESCB) as well as one of seven institutions of the European Union. It is one of the world's Big Four (banking)#International ...
fined Helaba with 6.83 million euro ($7.29 million) for "consciously" misrepresenting its exposure to turbulent financial markets during the
COVID-19 pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...
so it would need less capital; at the time, this was the second-largest levied by the ECB since taking over supervision of the
euro zone
The euro area, commonly called the eurozone (EZ), is a Monetary union, currency union of 20 Member state of the European Union, member states of the European Union (EU) that have adopted the euro (Euro sign, €) as their primary currency ...
's biggest lenders in 2014.
Helaba arranged the pre-letting quota of residences as a so-called “suitable financier” so that construction of the Hamburg
Elbtower could proceed. Only then did the city of Hamburg sell the ground to Signa, which as of 2023 is bankrupt.
References
External links
*
Helaba Invest*
{{Authority control
Landesbanks
Banks based in Frankfurt
Banks under direct supervision of the European Central Bank
Sparkassen-Finanzgruppe