Aber vielleicht nicht ganz so interessant wie letztes jahr…

'German banks loaded with 816 billion in toxic paper'
'Loans and securities in problem areas add up to 816 billion euros'

By that I mean Germany is a country which Kohl took into the Euro without a single popular vote. So politicians have been able to get away with a lot without consulting the electorate. With these events happening now, the politics are going to be very reactionary and dependent on public opinion. Es wird ein sehr interessantes Jahr sein, nicht?

valid point, thanks for pointing it out.

After reading through your post and the various links, I am tempted to agree with Egghat who wrote (quote):

“Viel Lärm um nichts” würde ich nicht sagen, sondern eher “Viel Lärm um aktuell noch wenig”. Beruhigend finde ich die Derivatepositionen aber trotzdem nicht …

I share you sentiments about the prosecutorial zeal at Bafin. This is the second time in recent German banking history. You recall the IT-Vorstand at HSH Nordbank got the boot because he was leaking documents to the press. (http://www.spiegel.de/wirtschaft/0,1518,619624,...)

As for the figures, they are ridiculously high and they only represent the nominal book value of potentially problematic assets I suspect. What the eventual losses are is another question altogether. However, you should note that HRE has significant off-balance sheet exposure and I suspect the Bafin figure includes this.
http://www.creditwritedowns.com/2009/02/hypo-re...

HRE has disputed the level of its off-balance sheet exposure, but you can bet it is enormous. I intend to write a tad more about HRE, hopefully later today.

Take Hypo Real Estate as an example:

Sure, the bank is a big mess, no doubt about that. But according to the list, it has 267 bn € of problem assets. Their latest financial statements (9/08) tell us that the bank has total assets of 392 bn €.

So 70 % of their whole book (which mostly consists of loans, not subprime securities) is “problem assets”? Well, if you classify every loan that may possibly have to take some sort of haircut due to falling real estate prices as a “potential problem asset”, you may end up at 267 bn €. But it is quite inconceivable that HRE will incur losses that come anywhere close to 267 bn €. And because of that, the number as such is meaningless. All it does is tell the public: “The risks are huge.” Which they undoubtedly are, but you don't need an arbitrary 816 bn € number for that.

Having said that, I also think it is ridiculous that BaFin now wants to prosecute the people reponsible for the leak. Instead, they should make a full disclosure and tell people exactly what the list means, caveats and limitations and all.