Austria starts talks with banks to wind down Hypo Alpe

The Austrian government is beginning talks with the nation’s banks to gain their support for winding down nationalised Hypo Alpe-Adria-Bank International in a way that keeps it off the state’s books.

Austria will start negotiations immediately and will decide next month whether it’s possible to implement a model where they contribute to the cost, Finance Minister Michael Spindelegger told journalists in Vienna yesterday. It will also hold discussions with the European Union’s statistics office Eurostat about whether it can keep Hypo Alpe’s bad assets off government books under the EU’s debt rules, he said.

“There will be in-depth talks with the banks toward a participation model,” Spindelegger said. “At the same time we’ll also talk to Eurostat to make sure it’s accepted. This should all go rather quickly because we need the basis for a decision quickly.”