Cash&Chaos Corner: Germany: HRE got 55 bio € more than thought

Leftparty wants to check balance sheets of banks

Schäuble is looking for the responsible one

Happy Banking Crisis! It's not only about kicking 700 or 800 bio Euros out of the window! No! It works the other way around as well. Mysteriously, the meanwhile nationalized Hypo Real estate was the vault of an unknown 55 bio €. Where exactly is this vault? Don't panic, it's more or less an imaginary vault. The balance sheets got misinterpreted and Hypo Real Estate is richer than thought. What drove certain dispicable German communist to the idea, that someone might have manipulated those balance sheets to drive a bargain of 55 bio euros. Very ugly. Nonetheless, super-cop Schaeuble is now looking for the responsible balance sheetzer.

yahoo.uk

Germany is €55bn richer than it previously thought because of an accounting error at state-owned bank Hypo Real Estate Holding.

The mistake at "bad bank" FMS Wertmanagement, happened because collateral for derivatives wasn't netted between the asset and liability side, an FMS spokesman said. As a result, FMS will only contribute about €161bn to Germany's debt this year, down from €216.5bn in 2010.

Of the €55.5bn lower debt, €31 billion is for 2011, the remaining €24.5 billion is for 2010, the FMS spokesman said, adding that FMS Wertmanagement corrected the figures in its six-month earnings report.

As a result, Germany's 2010 debt-to-GDP ratio also drops, to 83.2% from the previous 84.2%, a finance ministry spokesman said.

The ministry spokesman didn't directly comment on the accounting error, but said "the German government welcomes the substantial progress FMS Wertmanagement has made in reducing the portfolio it took over from Hypo Real Estate (Euronext: SRE.NX - news) a year ago".

"In addition, it is positive that total assets, which include derivatives and hedging transactions, could be reduced by more than €30bn, or almost 10pc, compared with the 2010 results," the ministry spokesman added.