- Operating revenue before provision for risk up markedly to € 162 million
- Provision for risk adapted to difficult market climate
- Pre-tax profit up to € 13 million
- Bank’s core areas of business develop in line with expectations in extremely difficult trading conditions
Deutsche Hypo, which belongs to the NORD/LB Group, made a profit in 2009, which proved to be a particularly challenging year for banks. “Given the continued difficult economic conditions enveloping our target markets, we are very pleased to have strengthened Deutsche Hypo’s position in the market,” stressed Dr. Jürgen Allerkamp, CEO of Deutsche Hypo. “Thanks to our transparent and stable business model, we have also been able to be a reliable partner to our customers during the turbulent spells over the past two years.”
However, the crisis on the financial markets was not without repercussions for Deutsche Hypo in fiscal 2009 either. The most significant features of these negative effects were increased provision set aside to cover risk and a volume of new business which was adapted in line with market conditions. For example, the bank approved € 1.4 billion of new commercial real-estate finance business, down 21% on the previous year. Deutsche Hypo has been deliberately cautious in its foreign business, being very selective in approving new business, which totalled around € 550 million. In Germany, Deutsche Hypo increased its new business by 16% to € 853 million. The inventory of real-estate finance was up 8% to almost € 10 billion.
The volume of new business in the capital market rose by a good 21% to € 2.8 billion. During the period under review, international business was down, only accounting for 28%. The high level of supply on the domestic market had prompted Deutsche Hypo to shift its focus. 72% of new business came from Germany in 2009.
The bank was consistently able to rely on its strong network of dependable capital market partners in the refinance business. Consequently, despite occasional pronounced market distortions during the first half of the year, it ensured that its issue activities functioned well at all times. For example, the total issue volume of € 4.9 billion was above the previous year’s figure of € 4.2 billion, with € 3.1 billion relating to mortgage bond products.
In line with his personal future plans, Jürgen Grieger (59) will be retiring on his 60th birthday, on 28 February 2010. The renowned capital market expert has been employed at Deutsche Hypo since 1990 and was appointed to the Management Board in 1996, where his main area of responsibility is the Treasury Division. Moreover, the name Grieger is associated with the successful introduction of the German Pfandbrief Act, which was of great significance for the German Pfandbrief market. Grieger was responsible for the introduction of this Act during his time as President of the former Association of German Mortgage Banks, from 2003 to 2005.
Revenue is as follows, following the end of financial year 2009:
• Net interest income was down almost 7% at € 98 million. € (PY € 105 million). The positive contribution from operating interest rate conditions was offset in the first quarter of 2009 primarily by the volatile interest rate climate and by the subsequent unexpected development in net interest received from capital market business.
• Net commission received was up the previous year, rising from € 10 million to € 13 million.
• The trading result or the result from financial instruments at fair value, including hedge accounting, rose € 188 million on the previous year, standing at € 68 million. This rise in performance was essentially due to the write-up effects resulting from the normalising of the situation on the financial markets, compared with the negative fair value development of the previous year. The bank’s portfolio of credit derivatives benefited from this development with a fair value improvement of the order of tens of millions of euros.
• Administrative expenses rose as expected, primarily due to project-related one-off effects, and amounted to around € 55 million (PY: € 45 million), including write-downs.
• Provision for risk in credit transactions rose noticeably by € 60 million to € 91 million. The impact of the financial markets crisis on the real economy weighed heavily on the real estate markets which are of relevance to the bank. There was a marked rise, in particular, in the provision of risk for commitments from English-speaking countries.
• The overall improvement in the performance of financial assets of € -58 million placed less of a burden on the bank’s profitability than had been the case in the previous year (€ -87 million).
• This gave rise to a pre-tax profit of € 13 million (PY: € -156 million). The group posted profits after tax of € 10 million (PY: € -97 million).
Outlook
Deutsche Hypo has made a satisfactory start to the first quarter of 2010. It has seen growth in real-estate finance and capital market business. In terms of net interest income, the increased inventory of real-estate finance with rising margins has brought about a sustainably higher contribution towards operating income. The net interest income of € 45.9 million is well above target and, together with administrative expenses which are developing as expected, the pre-tax profit is significantly ahead of the target pro rata.
However, Deutsche Hypo is bracing itself for continued difficulties in trading throughout fiscal 2010. “Despite cautiously optimistic expectations about the economy, we still envisage risks, in particular in some of our target real-estate markets outside Germany. Therefore, we do not expect to see these real-estate markets make a sustainable recovery until the medium term”, says Dr. Jürgen Allerkamp. He underlined the fact that “making provision for risk will, therefore, continue to be the decisive uncertainty factor for the overall result in 2010. However, we are aware that our risk management has proved its worth in the past and is well set up. Together with the bank’s solid customer base and our stable business model, we feel well-armed in the competitive market for commercial real-estate finance.”