HSH to cut containership financing

HSH to cut containership financing Shipping bank HSH Nordbank has slashed a quarter of its jobs and signaled its intent to eliminate its containership financing division after steep losses, Lloyd’s List reported Wednesday.
   The German bank, which has interests in a number of sectors but is considered the world’s largest shipping bank, lost 2.8 billion euros in 2008, leading its Chief Executive Officer Dirk Jens Nonnenmacher to say this week, “we need to make systematic corrections to our course.”
   The Lloyd’s List report indicated that HSH will cut half of the more than 115 billion euros in assets on its balance sheet. More than a quarter of that is tied up in ship financing. The bank will likely still continue in the ship financing business, but will duck out of financing container vessels.