VZCZCXRO0843
PP RUEHAG RUEHDF RUEHIK RUEHLZ RUEHROV RUEHSL RUEHSR
DE RUEHMZ #0197/01 2120547
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 310547Z JUL 09
FM AMCONSUL MUNICH
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 4870
RUEHRL/AMEMBASSY BERLIN 3511
INFO RUEATRS/DEPT OF TREASURY WASHINGTON DC
RUCNMEM/EU MEMBER STATES COLLECTIVE
RUCNFRG/FRG COLLECTIVE

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 MUNICH 000197 
 
STATE FOR EEB (NELSON), EEB/OMA (SAKAUE, WHITTINGTON), 
DRL/ILCSR AND EUR/AGS 
LABOR FOR ILAB (BRUMFIELD) 
TREASURY FOR ICN (KOHLER), IMB (MURDEN, MONROE, CARNES) AND OASIA 
TREASURY PASS TO FEDERAL RESERVE 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958:  N/A 
TAGS: ECON EFIN PGOV PREL GM
SUBJECT:  REGIONAL BAVARIAN VIEWS ON A GERMAN CREDIT CRUNCH 
 
Sensitive but Unclassified. Protect Accordingly. 
 
SUMMARY 
------- 
 
¶1.  (SBU) With a persistent focus among media and business leaders 
on the question of whether Germany is caught in a credit crunch, 
ConGen Munich surveyed local finance and business leaders to 
understand what is happening in Bavaria, one of Europe's largest 
economies.  There is a liquidity supply problem among Bavarian Small 
and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs), however, not all SME companies 
seem to be affected the same.  Particularly larger SMEs and 
individual business branches like the automotive supply industry 
feel a credit crunch as banks shy away from the risk of credit 
defaults in depressed industry sectors.  Likewise, for larger 
companies, banks seem to lack sufficient liquidity, both to meet 
business needs and to maintain proper balance sheet ratios.  The 
Bavarian Finance Ministry counts on better communication between 
SMEs and their house banks to avoid a serious credit crunch.  Large 
private firms like BMW are helping out their troubled suppliers 
directly. End summary. 
 
A Credit Crunch in Some Sectors, Real or Imagined 
--------------- 
 
¶2.  (SBU) The Deputy CEO of the Chamber of Commerce (IHK) for Munich 
and Upper Bavaria, Manfred Goessl, told us that relatively 
well-situated mid-size companies still had access to credit. 
However, very small and larger companies were in trouble at the 
bank.  Bavarian Finance Minister Georg Fahrenschon (CSU) confirmed 
this view in media interviews, stating that companies that sought 
loan volumes between 10 and 50 million Euros were affected, 
referring to the same kind of larger SME, typically plant 
engineering and construction firms involved in large-scale projects, 
that Goessl mentioned.  Although banks were still writing loans, 
Fahrenschon added that the problem was also a psychological one, 
driven by a wide-spread fear that a real credit crunch was coming. 
 
¶3.  (SBU) Automotive suppliers are indeed affected, according to a 
senior contact at BMW. He told us that around 100 BMW suppliers 
worldwide were in trouble and that particularly German and Bavarian 
suppliers had loan access and liquidity problems.  In contrast to 
SME suppliers, BMW itself was "pretty well off," he reported.  "Our 
creditworthiness helped us to regain good loan access to cover our 
annual refinancing needs of 25-30 billion Euros albeit at higher 
interest rates," he reported.  Finance Minister Fahrenschon has said 
with respect to the automotive supply sector that entrepreneurs were 
complaining to him about their house banks rejecting credits based 
solely on the business sector in which they were active. 
 
Banks are Creating Their Own Negative Reality 
--------------- 
 
¶4.  (SBU) In the case of small companies, banks want to avoid credit 
defaults that could arise after small businesses run into trouble in 
this tight economy, Goessl said.  Over 80 percent of the loans for 
small companies in Germany come from savings banks (Sparkassen) and 
credit unions (Raiffeisenbanken), both of which have not suffered as 
much in the crisis due to their rather conservative business models 
and which should be able to lend.  However, both Goessl and 
Fahrenschon observed that these banks are making credits dearer and 
are increasing their creditworthiness standards in order to guard 
against a breach of European capital requirements (Basel II).  This, 
they said, could accelerate the credit crunch and become a serious 
SME problem in 2010.  Likewise, larger companies were finding 
trouble obtaining large credits by the banks' own limited liquidity 
and by balance sheet rules (Basil II). 
 
Solutions Include Positive Attitude and Government Backing 
--------------- 
 
¶5.  (SBU) "In many cases BMW helps out directly.  We work together 
with insolvency administrators and the Bavarian state government to 
develop joint support programs for our suppliers, our BMW contact 
said.  He noted that most of the problems of automotive suppliers 
were homemade, and many suppliers had already been at the brink of 
unprofitability before the crisis.  BMW nevertheless also supported 
the efforts of the German automotive association VDA to urge banks 
to pay, "do their duty and give out loans, even if not publicly 
under the name of BMW," he said. 
 
¶6.  (U) "We take SME financing concerns seriously," Bavarian Finance 
Minister Fahrenschon said during a press conference in the CSU 
 
MUNICH 00000197  002 OF 002 
 
 
headquarters recently.  He introduced "Financing Initiative 
Bavaria," a concept emphasizing improved communication between 
private banks and development banks to ensure liquidity supply.  "In 
recent weeks I received many letters from companies, which already 
had received approval for governmental loan guarantees, but their 
house banks would not play along," Fahrenschon said.  The CSU plans 
to install ombudsmen throughout the state of Bavaria, to whom these 
companies can turn for help.  Fahrenschon hopes that these ombudsmen 
will act as go-betweens for businesses and the state and federal 
development banks.  In informal talks after the press conference he 
added that he and his Ministry had already succeeded in several 
hundred such negotiations. 
 
Comment 
------- 
 
¶7.  (SBU) Economic luminaries like Prof. Hans-Werner Sinn from the 
influential Munich Institute for Economic Research IFO have told us 
earlier that a credit crunch in Germany was inevitable if the 
government decides against the recapitalization of stricken banks 
and at the same time sticks to the capital requirements of Basel II. 
 This currently is still the case.  In light of the upcoming 
Bundestag election, politicians obviously do not want to draw a 
too-dim picture of the situation, and the fact that large companies 
with high creditworthiness like BMW regained good access to 
liquidity feeds these hopes.  On the other hand, the behavior of 
savings and credit union banks is alarming, as they are failing in 
important ways to serve the SMEs that depend on them. 
 
¶8.  (U) Consulate General Munich coordinated this report with 
Embassy Berlin 
 
¶9.  (U) Track Munich reporting at the classified link - 
http://www.intelink.sgov.gov/wiki/Portal:Germ any 
 
HELLMAN