November 8 - The continuing euro sovereign debt crisis and the general economic downturn in the maritime freight sector has prompted German bank HSH Nordbank to state that it needs much higher provisions for losses on its shipping loans.

The bank said it the now expects "much higher loan loss provisioning than previously planned for the legacy loans in the shipping business" as well as increasing default rates in this core segment of its client business.

When presenting its half-year results recently, HSH Nordbank stated that it no longer believes that the situation on the international shipping markets will improve rapidly and does not expect the sector to bottom out for another 12 to 18 months.

www.hsh-nordbank.com

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