The Postbank Group will assume responsibility for handling the payment transactions of HSH Nordbank. Both institutions reached an agreement to this effect. The Postbank Group is thereby expanding its market leadership in payment transactions and securing a good starting position for further expansion following the harmonization of the European market for payment transactions. HSH Nordbank will benefit from operating cost benefits and from the high technological standards of the Postbank Group.

As a result of the transaction, Postbank's transaction volume will increase by a further 430 million transactions per annum to around eight billion. Dr. Mario Daberkow, Postbank's management board member responsible for transaction banking, commented: "By systematically industrializing our transaction business we have reached a cost level that was virtually unimaginable across the sector a few years ago. I am pleased to see that for the first time an institution from the public sector is taking advantage of this benefit.”

The outsourcing of payment transactions to the Postbank Group forms part of HSH Nordbank's strategic realignment and of its focus on core areas of expertise. “The Postbank Group has been managing the payment transactions of major German commercial banks for a long time. In Postbank we have found a specialized service provider who will manage our payment transactions with the same high standard our clients are used to and with the highest degree of reliability,” said Dr. Christian Tonnesen, Head of Transaction Services at HSH Nordbank.

The Postbank subsidiary Betriebs-Center für Banken AG (BCB) will take over the payment transactions of HSH Nordbank in several stages; by the end of 2010 all domestic and foreign payment transactions will be running on BCB's IT platform.

HSH Nordbank's payment transaction employees will be taken on by BCB. Nothing will change for HSH Nordbank's clients. They remain the clients of their bank and their contact persons will stay the same. The agreement is subject to approval by the authorities.