Viermetz resigns as chairman of Hypo's supervisory board

Hypo Real Estate announced the resignation on Friday of Kurt Viermetz as chairman of the property lender's supervisory board. The move came at the end of a week in which Axel Wieandt was named as the new CEO to replace Georg Funke who stepped down following the agreement on a EUR 50 bn public-private bail-out to keep Hypo Real Estate afloat. Kai Wilhelm Franzmeyer was named as a board member and the firm's new treasurer.

Viermetz said in a statement: 'With the replacements to the management board and the fundamental settlement of the liquidity support, my most urgent tasks have been fulfilled. I can now step down from the supervisory board in the knowledge that, despite the extraordinarily difficult state of the finance sector, the foundations for a sound new beginning have been laid.'

Klaus Pohle, formerly Viermetz's deputy on the supervisory board, becomes interim chairman of the supervisory board. Paying tribute to his former superior, Pohle said: ‘Like no other, he facilitated the company by his steady leadership and vast international experience from its difficult beginnings following the spin-off from HVB to become one of the leading global commercial real estate financing houses.

'Despite the crisis of recent weeks, his prudence and decisiveness contributed greatly to the company gaining the chance of a new start with the help of the German Government, the Central Bank and various financial institutes. The supervisory board and the shareholders of Hypo Real Estate Holding owe Viermetz their highest respect for his achievement and for his decision to leave the chairmanship of the supervisory board in new hands.'

Last week Hypo Real Estate issued a separate German-only statement to refute a report in the Financial Times Deutschland (FTD) that the lender withheld information about its liquidity situation to German market regulator BaFIN.