Restructuring Unit starts operating as scheduled

Hamburg/Kiel, December 1, 2009 - HSH Nordbank today launched its Restructuring Unit as planned.

As an independent organizational unit within HSH Nordbank, the Restructuring Unit is in authority and will dispose of the non-strategic portfolios that will no longer belong to the Core Bank in the future. The Restructuring Unit is headed by Martin van Gemmeren, who has been in charge since November 1, 2009 of the Management Board office set up for this purpose. The Restructuring Unit is part of the fundamental realignment that HSH Nordbank announced back in the spring of 2009. The Core Bank’s total assets will be reduced to about half by way of the Restructuring Unit.

With the establishment of this Restructuring Unit the organizational separation of the Bank’s strategic and non-strategic portfolios has taken place. In the annual financial statement 2009 the Restructuring Unit will be reported as a separate segment in the balance sheet of the HSH Nordbank.

“The Restructuring Unit is not a bad bank because attractive, profitable businesses that no longer fit HSH Nordbank’s future strategy have also been allocated to it. Our task is, with the agreement of our clients, to reduce the portfolios concerned promptly and in a professional manner. The quality of customer care in the Restructuring Unit will be just as high as in the Core Bank,” Martin van Gemmeren says.

A decision on a possible legal split of the Restructuring Unit will be taken at a later date with the consent of the Bank’s shareholders.

The information contained in this press release does not constitute an offer for the sale of any type of Hamburg Commercial Bank AG securities. Securities of Hamburg Commercial Bank AG may not be sold in the United States without registration pursuant to US securities legislation, unless such a sale takes place on the basis of relevant exceptional provisions.

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