Helaba

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 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 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).

Main article: 2011 European Union bank stress test, 2016 European Union bank stress test

In July 2011 it was reported that Helaba would pull out of the EU's bank stress tests to avoid public failure.

In July 2025, news media reported that Helaba was weighing a takeover of property bank Aareal.

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 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 fined Helaba with 6.83 million euro ($7.29 million) for "consciously" misrepresenting its exposure to turbulent financial markets during the COVID-19 pandemic 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'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

References

1. ({{date). "The list of significant supervised entities and the list of less significant institutions".
2. ({{date). "List of supervised entities".
3. Beat Balzli, Wolfgang Reuter and Steffen Winter (November 20, 2007), [https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2007-12-19/trouble-ahead-for-state-owned-banks-in-germanybusinessweek-business-news-stock-market-and-financial-advice Trouble Ahead For State-Owned Banks in Germany] ''[[Bloomberg News]]''.
4. Andreas Kröner (August 26, 2015), [https://www.reuters.com/article/helaba-landesbk-dekabk-deutsche-idUSL5N1113KZ20150826 German Helaba chief floats idea of merger with Deka Bank] ''[[Reuters]]''.
5. Jonathan Gould and Andreas Kröner (August 27, 2014), [https://www.reuters.com/article/us-helaba-landesbk-stresstest-idUSKBN0GR16220140827 Helaba, BNY Mellon team up for German companies' Asian push] ''[[Reuters]]''.
6. Arno Schuetze (December 14, 2018), [https://www.reuters.com/article/us-dexia-m-a-helaba/germanys-helaba-to-acquire-dexias-german-unit-for-398-million-idUSKBN1OD133 Germany's Helaba to acquire Dexia's German unit for $398 million] ''[[Reuters]]''.
7. [https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-14148180 "German bank Helaba 'to pull out of stress tests'"], ''[[BBC]]'', 14 July 2011.
8. Jakob Blume and Yasmin Osman (14 July 2025), [https://www.handelsblatt.com/finanzen/banken-versicherungen/banken/bankenfusion-helaba-prueft-uebernahme-der-aareal-bank/100141591.html Helaba prüft Übernahme der Aareal Bank] ''[[Handelsblatt]]''.
9. Francesco Canepa (10 February 2023), [https://www.reuters.com/business/finance/ecb-fines-germanys-helaba-misrepresenting-risk-2023-02-10/ ECB fines Germany's Helaba for misrepresenting risk] ''[[Reuters]]''.
10. Mußler, Hanno. (2023-12-06). "Signa-Insolvenz und die Helaba: Ihre Rolle beim Elbtower". FAZ.NET.