Germany: IKB Deutsche Industriebank Emergency Liquidity Program, 2008

In the summer of 2007, IKB Deutsche Industriebank (IKB) faced heavy losses owing to the liquidity support it had provided on commercial paper issued by Rhineland Funding Capital Corporation, its off-balance-sheet vehicle, which held distressed collateralized debt obligations backed by US subprime mortgages. In July 2007, authorities became aware that IKB itself had lost access to liquidity from Deutsche Bank and other funding partners. Publicly owned development bank Kreditanstalt fur Wiederaufbau (KfW) held a 38% stake in IKB, exposing it to potentially heavy losses in the event of an IKB failure. KfW, German financial authorities, and German banks pursued a series of intervention measures in 2007 and early 2008, including asset guarantees and capital injections. While implementing intervention measures and negotiating a sale of its stake, KfW provided two liquidity facilities, one in January 2008 and the other in July 2008, allowing IKB to access up to EUR 3 billion of liquidity. Two large American banks and two regional German banks also provided liquidity facilities. KfW ultimately sold its stake in IKB to American private equity firm Lone Star at a significant loss on October 29, 2008. KfW had permitted its liquidity facilities to last until March 2011, but IKB terminated its use of the facilities early in 2010.