Mayor of Düsseldorf, often known as 'Nippon on the Rhine,' curses subprime problems

IHT ^ | 08/16/07 | Aaron Kirchfeld and Holger Elfes

[TigerLikesRooster]

Mayor of Düsseldorf, often known as 'Nippon on the Rhine,' curses subprime problems

By Aaron Kirchfeld and Holger Elfes

Bloomberg News

Thursday, August 16, 2007

DÜSSELDORF: These are not the best of times for Joachim Erwin, the mayor of Düsseldorf, Germany.

Within five days last month, two of the biggest banks in the city, WestLB and IKB Deutsche Industriebank, removed their top executives after losses from trading and investments in U.S. subprime mortgages.

The problems are an embarrassment for the capital of Germany's most populous state, North Rhine-Westphalia, just as Erwin is trying to lure overseas banks to the city. Düsseldorf is courting lenders from Japan and China to fill the gap left when Commerzbank moved its headquarters to Frankfurt and Deutsche Bank pulled board members out of the city.

[TigerLikesRooster]

Nippon Am Rhein?

[goldstategop]

Japan on the Rhine. But it doesn't look that way when the banks are leaving Düsseldorf.

"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelologus

[driftdiver]

So they were trying to make a buck on a risky investment and now are crying about it. too bad soo sad

[kinoxi]

WestLB, a state-owned lender ...

German banking associations and the state-owned KfW have agreed to cover as much as €3.5 billion in potential losses at IKB....

"Nobody knew the markets would develop like they did," said Gert Schmidt, an IKB spokesman...

Anyone who has glanced at a newspaper in the last 6 months (or more) could have inferred it. The companies don't actually lose anyway if the state is bailing them out.

[SkyPilot]

So they were trying to make a buck on a risky investment and now are crying about it. too bad soo sad

No - don't you understand! They are just like the people who were very well paid and put all their retirement stock in Enron, and when the company collapsed - they were victims!

Somebody has to pay! It sure won't be 'us.'

< sarcasm off>

[driftdiver]

“Somebody has to pay! It sure won’t be ‘us.’”

Nope, those sub prime borrowers planned this whole thing and are now headed back to their trailers.

[SkyPilot]

[driftdiver]

Seems like I’ve seen that add a few millions times.

[SkyPilot]

I always wondered why she is dancing and is surprised.