Kurt Viermetz, chairman of Hypo Real Estate (HRE), resigned Friday, 12 days after the German government backed a huge and troubled bail-out for the struggling mortgage lender, according to dpa. He was the second senior man to leave the bank, under pressure from the German government and commercial banks, which claimed HRE had under-stated its exposure. The chief executive of HRE, Georg Funke resigned earlier this week. HRE announced in Munich the departure of Viermetz, who chaired the HRE supervisory board, a panel that hires the chief executive and sets broad policy. Berlin had demanded both men be removed. Under a bail-out forged on September 28, then re-engineered on October 5 when it proved inadequate, HRE is receiving 50 billion euros (70 billion dollars) in loans from the commercial banks and German central bank. The sum was secured with a 35-billion-euro federal guarantee and bonds that are normally not accepted as security by the state. HRE, Germany's first casualty of the current financial crisis, was brought low by a stricken subsidiary, Depfa, which has its head office in Dublin, Ireland and which lends money to municipalities to build roads, railways, airports and other public facilities.
