Ex-nordbank boss will be allowed to keep million-dollar severance pay

A deadline within which the bank could reclaim the more than four million euros expired on 15 june. December, it was announced on monday in reports from NDR info, the NDR "schleswig-holstein-magazin" and the "suddeutsche zeitung". A spokesman for the hamburger finance authority confirmed the media’s investigations on request. Charges of breach of trust and accounting fraud have been brought against nonnenmacher by the hamburger public prosecutor’s office.

A clause in the contract with nonnenmacher stipulates that the compensation can only be reclaimed if new information comes to light that was not known at the time the termination agreement with nonnenmacher was concluded, the spokesman explained.

The chairman of the supervisory board of HSH, nordbank hilmar kopper, explained that for legal reasons the board could not comment on details of termination agreements or on the decision-making process within the supervisory board. However, he gave the following assurance: "the supervisory board will closely monitor the progress of any criminal proceedings against former members of the bank’s board of management and take timely measures to prevent the possible expiry of claims for damages against former members of the board of management."

At the beginning of the year, the public prosecutor’s office filed charges against a total of six former bank executives, including nonnenmacher, for embezzlement in a particularly serious case and accounting fraud. The former board of directors rejected the accusations. If a conviction is handed down, the bank’s claims for damages would exceed the amount of the settlement many times over, according to sources.