Press releases

2008-04-09

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Germany | Companies People

HypoVereinsbank nominates Theodor Weimer as successor to Chairman of the Management Board Wolfgang Sprissler and adopts resolution for further development of the Management Board’s Corporate Governanc

Bayern: At its meeting held today, the Supervisory Board of HypoVereinsbank nominated Dr. Theodor Weimer (48) as successor to Dr. Wolfgang Sprissler (62), Chairman of the Management Board of HypoVereinsbank. Weimer, currently Head of Investment Banking in the Markets & Investment Banking Division both of HypoVereinsbank and of the UniCredit Group and responsible for the Division’s worldwide M&A, Capital Markets and financing activities, has been appointed Chief Representative of HypoVereinsbank with immediate effect, with responsibility for the Divisions Markets & Investment Banking and Corporate Banking.

Dr. Wolfgang Sprissler, the outgoing Chairman of the Management Board of HypoVereinsbank, about his designated successor: "Thanks to his immense experience both in the field of advisory services and banking operations, Theodor Weimer complies with all requirements to bring HypoVereinsbank forward on its growth course on a sustained basis. Within a brief period, Theodor Weimer has earned significant respect and a high level of internal acceptance at HypoVereinsbank. I am looking forward to cooperating closely with him in the forthcoming months.”

Alessandro Profumo, Chairman of the Supervisory Board of Hypo- Vereinsbank and CEO of the UniCredit Group, added: “In Theodor Weimer, we have found the perfect successor to Wolfgang Sprissler. He is a banker of note who, on account of his participation in a large number of key transactions in Germany in recent years, knows the German financial community like hardly anyone else today. Moreover, with his background and profound knowledge of the banking business, he ideally personifies the customer- oriented reorientation of HypoVereinsbank within the UniCredit Group. He will be a substantial gain for HypoVereinsbank and its customers.”

The Chairman of the Management Board, Dr. Wolfgang Sprissler, confirmed to the Supervisory Board that upon expiry of his contract in March 2009 he will no longer be available for re-election and has asked the Supervisory Board to release him from his functions as a member and Chairman of the Management Board of HypoVereinsbank at the turn of 2008/2009. At the request of the UniCredit Group, Sprissler agreed that he would also be willing to assume an important role for HypoVereinsbank and the UniCredit Group in future.

Alessandro Profumo, Chairman of the Supervisory Board of Hypo- Vereinsbank and CEO of the UniCredit Group, thanked Sprissler for his achievements as chief executive of the bank since the business combination with the UniCredit Group: “In the past, almost three years, under the leadership of Wolfgang Sprissler HypoVereinsbank accomplished its integration into the UniCredit Group in spite of extremely difficult external conditions and returned to impressive earnings strength in record time. I would like to thank Wolfgang Sprissler for his tireless efforts in the interests of the customers and employees of HypoVereinsbank. The Supervisory Board of HypoVereinsbank expresses a great deal of respect to him for his achievements.”

Subject to the approval of the supervisory authorities, Dr. Theodor Weimer was appointed by the Supervisory Board as a member of the Management Board of HypoVereinsbank with effect from January 1, 2009 and will, after the respective election as CEO, take charge of the responsibility for the Divisions Markets & In vestment Banking and Corporate Banking. Weimer will be proposed to join the Management Committee of the UniCredit Group.

Further development of the Corporate governance of Hypo- Vereinsbank

In addition, at its meeting today the Supervisory Board adopted a resolution concerning the further development of the management structure at HypoVereinsbank. In the wake of this measure, the Management Board will be reduced in size from a previous ten to six members. In future, the Management Board will be focussing even more closely on its central tasks, i.e. governance, distribution of resources, controls and risk management of the Bank. With its new structure, the Bank is taking account of the meanwhile successfully concluded integration into the UniCredit Group and doing justice to the modern principles of international Corporate governance.

By streamlining the Management Board, the leadership organisation of HypoVereinsbank will become more efficient. Within the Management Board, from May 1, 2008 Dr. Wolfgang Sprissler (Retail as well as Wealth Management Division) and Ronald Seilheimer (Markets & Investment Banking as well as Corporate Division) will be responsible for the bank´s operating businesses, respectively.

The Management Board of HypoVereinsbank will consist of the following members effective as of May 1, 2008, who were partly reconfirmed in office or newly appointed at today’s meeting of the Supervisory Board.

· As Chairman of the Management Board, Dr. Wolfgang Sprissler is responsible for the central functions of Legal Affairs, Internal Audits, Communications and the General Secretariat. In addition, he will be in charge of the Retail Division as well as Wealth Management Division.

· Ronald Seilheimer, on the Management Board, will be responsible for the Markets & Investment Banking Division and the Corporate Division.

· Rolf Friedhofen as Chief Financial Officer (CFO) will be in charge of the centralized functions of Accounting, Operations & Projects, Equity Shareholdings, Asset Liability Management, Taxes, Investor Relations, and Planning & Controlling.

· Henning Giesecke, as Chief Risk Officer (CRO) will be responsible for credit and risk management activities at Hypo- Vereinsbank. In parallel, he will retain his present function as CRO of the UniCredit Group.

· Heinz Laber will continue to be responsible for Human Resources. In addition, he will take charge of the centralized divisions Organisation, Procurement, Back Office, IT and Corporate Logistics & Facility Management.

· Stefan Ermisch, as Chief Operating Officer (COO) of the Markets & Investment Banking Division, will be in charge of the organisation and integration of the investment banking activities of the UniCredit Group into HypoVereinsbank.

Dr. Wolfgang Sprissler, Chairman of the Management Board of HypoVereinsbank, explained: “The leaner structure of the Management Board of HypoVereinsbank complies with the modern principles of international corporate governance. Accordingly, resources will be ideally exploited both for strategic control and operational management of business. For our customers, the further development of the management structure of HypoVereinsbank will not result in any modifications in future either. They will continue to be taken care of on site as usual, both regionally and locally.” The previous Management Board members Willibald Cernko (Retail Division) and Andreas Wölfer (Wealth Management Division) will be in charge from May 1, 2008, as in the past, of operational management and be responsible for the businesses in Germany, HypoVereinsbank’s home market. Moreover, Willibald Cernko and Andreas Wölfer will represent the interests of HypoVereinsbank in the respective Executive Committees of the global Divisions. Ronald Seilheimer will retire from the Management Board of Hypo- Vereinsbank by mutual agreement as at the end of 2008. He has successfully built the segment Principal Investments within the Markets & Investment Banking Division. Under his leadership a sound platform has been set up, that allows to further leverage on the potential created by Private Equities Investments themselves as well as related business activities. Dr. Stefan Schmittmann, in charge of Corporate Customers on the Management Board of HypoVereinsbank in the past, will be leaving the Management Board of HypoVereinsbank by mutual agreement as at April 30, 2008 to take up new tasks. Under his management, Corporate Banking saw outstanding development, particularly as far as profitability, customer and employee satisfaction are concerned. At the same time, Lutz Diederichs (45), Divisional Management Board member for large-scale enterprises and commercial realestate customers, will take over the operational responsibility for Corporate Banking in Germany within the competences of Ronald Seilheimer. As successor to Schmittmann, Diederichs will also represent the interests of HypoVereinsbank in the Executive Committee of the UniCredit Group’s Corporate Division. Matthias Sohler, currently COO of HypoVereinsbank, will be leaving the Management Board of HypoVereinsbank effective as of April 30, 2008 following the successful reorganisation of IT and Operations at HypoVereinsbank and after finalising the company's outsourcing programmes. These included outsourcing IT applications and securities processing & custody and the transfer of payment processing services to Postbank. He will remain a member of the Global Banking Services Executive Committee in the UniCredit Group and will there be responsible for the Organisation, Cost Management, Procurement and Real Estate Divisions. Andrea Umberto Varese, CRO of HypoVereinsbank in the past, will be leaving the Management Board of HypoVereinsbank effective as of April 30, 2008 after having successfully implemented the key objectives and projects for the Risk Management Division in the past approximately three years following the business combination with UCG, such as the redemption of the RER portfolio and reduction of the Special Credit portfolio. He will assume the new function of Head of Distressed Debt Portfolio within the Markets & Investment Banking Division. Dr. Wolfgang Sprissler, Chairman of the Management Board of HypoVereinsbank, expressed his thanks to the outgoing Management Board members for their achievements: “In recent years, we have jointly accomplished a great deal following the business combination of HypoVereinsbank with UniCredit. I would like to thank my colleagues on the Management Board for their outstanding devotion to duty, enabling us to accomplish the integration of HypoVereinsbank into the UniCredit Group sooner than anticipated since the merger. Being a central element of the UniCredit Group, meanwhile we are playing a leading role again in Germany, our home market. This is documented by the growing satisfaction of our customers and our good results achieved in fiscal 2007. A significant contribution in this regard was made not only by increasing the level of operating income achieved by all Divisions, but also by the successful cost-cutting and risk control measures implemented to date.”

Curricula vitae

Dr. Theodor Weimer (48) has been Head of Investment Banking and a member of the Executive Committee of the UniCredit Group Markets & Investment Banking Division since June 1, 2007. Operating in this function from Munich, he is in charge of the global M&A, Capital Markets and financing activities of the Division. Weimer joined the UniCredit Group after having worked for Goldman Sachs, where he had been partner since 2004. Before joining Goldman Sachs, he was employed by Bain & Company for six years, where he was Head of the Financial Institutions Division and, most recently, Senior Partner and a member of the Global Management Committee. Before that, Weimer had been engaged by McKinsey & Company for seven years.

Henning Giesecke (47) was born in Munich. After studying Economics at the University of Munich, he completed a trainee programme with the Hypo-Bank in Hamburg, London and Munich. From 1987 to 1998 Mr Giesecke was engaged by the Bank as Corporate Customer Relationship Manager in Hamburg, Head of the Dresden Representative Office, as Head of Corporate Customers in Berlin and, in Frankfurt, as Head of Financing for the Rhineland-Main-Saar region. From 1998 to the year 2000, Giesecke was in charge of the Central Restructuring Division of HypoVereinsbank and subsequently became Division Head for Restructuring and Workout. In 2004, as Chief Credit Risk Officer, he became a member of the Divisional Management Board of the HVB Group. Since February 2006, as Chief Risk Officer Giesecke has been responsible for risk management throughout the UniCredit Group and a member of the Management Committee.

Lutz Diederichs (45) was born in Heinsberg (Rhineland). After studying Economics at the University of Bonn, in January 1990 Diederichs began his career as a trainee in the Corporate Customer and Real Estate business of Bayerische Vereinsbank in Bonn and Stuttgart. After completing his traineeship, from 1991 to 1997 Mr. Diederichs was engaged in Risk Management and Corporate Customer Relationship Management in Berlin and Brandenburg, most recently responsible for high net-worth SME customers. From mid-1997 to the end of 1999, Diederichs was Head of the HVB Corporate Customer Branch in Dresden, before he became Head of Corporate Customer Management & Marketing at the Munich Head Office. In early 2002 he became Head of Corporate Customers, Business Division East, and at the beginning of 2004 he was additionally placed in charge of Corporate Customers, Business Division Centre/East. Since January 2008 Diederichs is Divisional Management Board member for large-scale enterprises and commercial real-estate customers within the Corporates Division.