vdp’s new Management Board elected  – Bremer Landesbank becomes 36th member

At the Members’ Meeting of the Association of German Pfandbrief Banks (vdp) held to­day in Berlin, Jan Bettink, Chairman of the Board of Managing Directors of Berlin-Han­nover­sche Hypothekenbank AG (Berlin Hyp), was elected President of the vdp. Bet­tink (55) takes over office from Henning Rasche, who served as vdp’s President from Decem­ber 2005 and whose term of office has now ended. Bettink thanked his predecessor for his successful work, pointing out that during Rasche’s term of office – after the Associa­tion had been opened up to all German Pfandbrief issuers – the vdp saw the number of member banks rise from 22 to 35. Looking ahead to his future tasks, Bettink said, “The Pfandbrief is one of the winners of the financial crisis thanks to its reliability and quality. Its importance as a safe and, at the same time, attractive financial instrument is growing constantly. Our foremost task will be to safeguard the benefit it represents for the Ger­man economy and the Pfandbriefbanks.”

At the same time, the Members’ Meeting elected the Association’s new Management Board. The members of the Management Board are now:

Hubert Beckmann - WestLB AG, Düsseldorf 

Giselbert Behr - Dexia Kommunalbank Deutschland AG, Berlin

Jan Bettink - Berlin-Hannoversche Hypothekenbank AG, Berlin and President of the vdp 

Christian Bonnen - Kreissparkasse Köln, Cologne

Dr. Kai Wilhelm Franzmeyer - Deutsche Pfandbriefbank AG, Unterschleißheim 

Dr. Louis Hagen - Münchener Hypothekenbank eG, Munich

Rainer Krick - Landesbank Hessen-Thüringen Girozentrale, Frank­furt am Main 

Dr. Wolf Schumacher - Aareal Bank AG, Wiesbaden

Dr. Thomas Sommer - WL BANK AG, Münster 

Hans-Joachim Strüder - Landesbank Baden-Württemberg, Stuttgart

Jens Tolckmitt - Chief Executive of the vdp, Berlin

Andrea Varese - UniCredit Bank AG, Munich 

Ralf Woitschig - Eurohypo AG, Eschborn 

Dr. Edgar Zoller - Bayerische Landesbank, Munich

Furthermore, the Members’ Meeting accepted an application for membership from Bremer Landes­bank, which will join the vdp on July 1, 2010. “The vdp is the recognized authority in matters of the Pfandbrief and of business eligible as cover for Pfandbriefe. For us, activities in the field of ship finance are of particular interest. We expect to achieve value added for our institution through participation in vdp expert panels,” Dr. Stephan-Andreas Kaulvers, Chairman of Bremer Landesbank’s Board of Management, explained.

About Jan Bettink:

Jan Bettink, 55, has 36 years’ banking experience in the loan, construction financing and business customer spheres. His work has for a long time been related to the real estate business, taking him through various positions at well-known banks, including on the investors’ side. Amongst other things, he was for many years shareholder-director of the FAY Group. Jan Bettink, who is now Chairman of the Board of Management of Berlin Hyp, one of the leading real estate finance providers in Germany and part of the Landes­bank Berlin AG Group, represents a constant, healthy growth course. Under his leader­ship, the Bank has for years been financing successful investor projects at economically powerful locations in Germany and in selected other European markets, but also acts as a reliable partner on the capital market.

Berlin, June 10, 2010