It's adereary novem-ber day, and a thick fog cloaks the 47-story Frank-furt headquarters of Helaba, a state-owned German landesbank, but CEO Hans-Dieter Brenner has a clear view of where he wants to take the lender. The financial crisis and regulatory changes have dealt harsh blows to most of Germany's nine landesbanks, and Brenner, like many observers, believes the sector is ripe for consolidation. Within the next five to seven years, he predicts, "there will be three large regional landesbanks, covering the north, center and south of Germany." He is determined that Helaba will be one of the survivors.
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