Gero Bergmann elected as vdp President

Berlin / Frankfurt am Main, June 7, 2023

• Member of the BayernLB Board of Management succeeds Dr Georg Reutter

At the 18th Members’ Meeting of the Association of German Pfandbrief Banks (vdp) held in Frankfurt am Main today, Gero Bergmann, a Member of the Board of Management of BayernLB, was elected as the vdp’s new President. He succeeds Dr Georg Reutter, who assumed the position of President last year, then resigned in view of his forthcoming departure from DZ HYP. He will sit on the vdp’s Board of Directors until the end of July of this year.

“To be elected as President of the vdp is a very special honour for me. I wish to thank the members for the confidence they have placed in me, and promise them to work passionately for our core product, the Pfandbrief, and for the interests of the Pfandbrief banks,” Bergmann declared. “I am taking over this office in an extraordinary situation, as the real estate markets are undergoing a time of great change. It is therefore all the more important today that we at the vdp draw on our know-how and data to create transparency in the market, appraise developments and openly address regulatory projects that are counterproductive to achieving political goals.”

Policymakers have set important yet very challenging goals in the sustainable transformation of the economy and of the building stock as well as the creation of affordable housing. The entire real estate industry plays a key role in achieving these goals. That includes real estate financiers, who have to shoulder a large part of the investments that are needed. At the same time, on top of the additional capital burdens resulting from the implementation of Basel III, the banking industry is currently facing further headwinds that impair its ability to lend. For instance, the countercyclical capital buffer and the sectoral systemic risk buffer have been applied to residential real estate financing since February of this year. According to calculations by the Deutsche Bundesbank, the buffers together tie up capital at the credit institutions totalling around EUR 22 billion. This capital cannot be used for additional lending. Not only that: the forthcoming sustainable finance regulation will further restrict the institutions’ lending possibilities.

“It does not make sense to hamper those parties that inevitably have to provide much of the financing of the political visions with more and more requirements and capital restrictions – it simply does not add up. I will place greater emphasis on bringing this to the attention of policymakers, supervisors and the public,” Bergmann announced.

In keeping with the vdp’s Statutes, Bergmann was elected until the end of the current term of office. The President and the Board of Directors of the vdp will then be elected or re-elected at the vdp Members’ Meeting in 2024 for the next regular two-year period.

Bergmann has served on the Board of Management of BayernLB since 2021, where he is responsible for the Real Estate & Savings Banks/Financial Institutions Business Area including the municipal and development bank BayernLabo. He previously spent ten years with Berlin Hyp as Board Member in charge of Markets. Bergmann is Chairman of the Supervisory Board of Real IS AG and is, moreover, involved in real estate associations such as ZIA, ULI and ICG in various roles. He joined the vdp Board of Directors in 2021. Upon his election as President of the vdp, Bergmann thanked his predecessor on behalf of all member banks and the vdp’s Head Office:

“Dr. Reutter has been highly committed to our Pfandbrief and to real estate financiers for more than a decade, both on the Board of Directors and as vdp President. For this he deserves our deep appreciation and gratitude.”