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Hypo Real Estate to shed nearly half its workforce

Troubled German property lender Hypo Real Estate is to slash its work force by almost half in three years, it announced on Saturday. Several board members and managers are also being sacked.

Published: 20 December 2008 11:15 CET

Hypo Real Estate to shed nearly half its workforce

Photo: DPA

“The number of employees will go from some 1,800 to about 1,000 over the next three years,” the bank said in an early-morning communique.

Spiegel Online also reports that executive board members Frank Lamby and Markus Fell are being fired without notice, as are former board members Georg Funke und Bo Heide-Ottosen. Funke had already resigned from the board on 7th October as a result of the current crisis. He is now being dismissed from the company amid accusations that he deceived the public and shareholders for over a year about the dire state the bank was in.

“Two-thirds of the jobs which are to go will be outside Germany,” the bank said, adding that it intended to sell some of its activities. The services being cut include infrastructure financing. The Munich-based bank, Germany’s biggest victim of the global banking crisis, stressed that it would do what it could to avoid further redundancies.

Hypo Real Estate and its Irish subsidiary Depfa got caught up in the global credit crunch, and were severely affected when the US investment bank Lehman Brothers declared bankruptcy in September. According to reports, Depfa, a bank Hypo Real Estate took over in 2007, have not been able to obtain any short-term loans in the crisis-ridden financial markets.

Hypo Real Estate has already benefited from tens of billions of euros in a rescue plan worked out by the government and the German central bank in October. The restructuring of Hypo Real Estate announced today was a condition of the federal bail-out.

The transition to the new business model will cost an estimated €400 million, and will lower the cost of running the company by €200 million a year by 2011.

Which Bavaria-based companies regularly hire English speakers?

Munich ranks third in German cities with the highest total GDP, behind Berlin and Hamburg, but in terms of GDP per capita, it’s higher than both of them.

It also consistently ranks high, often highest, in terms of average household income.

As of 2023, nine of the 40 companies listed on DAX, Germany’s stock index, were based in Bavaria. Seven of those are based specifically in Munich.

While Frankfurt is commonly known to be Germany’s business capital, Munich can claim the title of Germany’s insurance capital, which is saying something, as Germany is home to some of the largest insurance firms in the world, like Allianz.

Beyond the state’s capital city, a number of international companies are based elsewhere in Bavaria, particularly in the Franken region, near Nuremberg.

Which companies actively hire English speakers?

Bavaria, and Munich in particular, is home to a number of companies at the forefront of international business. But the state is known for its traditional, sometimes conservative, culture, which affects its business culture as well.

Whereas companies embracing English as their primary business language are easy to find in Berlin, the practice is less common in the south. That said, there are some notable exceptions.

Sportswear giants, Adidas and Puma, both have their headquarters near Nuremberg in Herzogenaurach, and regularly recruit English speaking international talent.

“As an international company, our teams reflect the rich diversity of our consumers and communities,” Jon Greenhalgh, Senior Manager Media Relations for Adidas told The Local. “Fostering a culture of inclusion where we value and leverage differences, ensures that we can authentically engage with our employees and truly connect with our consumers.”

He added that around 40 per cent of Adidas’ Germany-based employees are foreign nationals, from over 100 different countries.

Siemens and BMW rank among Bavaria’s top employers, and are also known to hire their fair share of foreigners.

“In Germany, we recently had around 2,000 open positions,” Konstanze Somborn told The Local on behalf of Siemens AG.

He added that Siemens operates in 190 countries. “That is why we value international teams very much…English as a common language is very usual.”

READ ALSO: ‘Which German companies want to hire foreigners?’

Similarly, BMW hires workers from a variety of backgrounds.

“Every year, we hire lots of internationals and welcome them to the BMW Group,” Dr. Hans-Peter Ketterl, a press spokesman for BMW Group told The Local.

But not all of these positions are available to non-German speakers.

Ketterl added that BMW’s working language is German in the country, even though, “English is an indispensable entry requirement as the second corporate language in many areas of the company.”

Check job boards and follow best practices

If it’s your first time applying for jobs in Germany, make sure to change your resume to the German format, even for English positions.

While Germany is home to its own job boards, like Xing, LinkedIn is probably the best place to start. In addition to searching for positions based in your preferred location, you can check relevant groups, like Munich Startups, to broaden your horizons.

The English Jobs in Germany website is also a good resource to start with.

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