Clearing Bank Hannover goes into liquidation

Clearing Bank Hannover (CBH), which offered clearing services for electricity and commodity traders, has gone into liquidation and returned its banking licence to BaFin – Germany’s financial regulator.

CBH, which is owned by three German banks - Commerzbank, Norddeutsche Landesbank and Vereins- und Westbank - was set up in 1998. The bank's energy clearing partners were brokers, GFI, Prebon Marshall Yamane and APB Energy Europe –which was bought out by Icap in October 2002.

An industry source said the continued success of CBH's German-based rival, the European Energy Exchange (EEX), was a significant reason behind the decision by CBH’s owners to abandon the venture.

But CBH chairman Udo Ziegenhorn told RiskNews' sister publication Energy & Power Risk Management that low turnover and the withdrawal of US energy trading companies from Europe had had a negative impact on CBH's energy clearing business. Ziegenhorn declined to comment on how many traded megawatt hours were cleared on the exchange, but did say CBH is in talks with EEX to transfer existing contracts.

Norddeutsche Landesbank will take over CBH's agricultural clearing duties, Ziegenhorn added.