Axel Wieandt, the chief executive of the state-owned mortgage lender Hypo Real Estate, stepped down on Thursday, a day before he was set to present the company's annual results for the first time. A statement released by the company said his resignation was "due to differing views with the Financial Market Stabilization Fund (SoFFin) regarding the management of the company."

SoFFin is the German government's bank bailout fund, set up to stabilize the country's banking sector.

The German weekly business magazine WirtschaftsWoche reported that those disagreements were over salary levels, quoting an unnamed source close to the matter as saying, "Wieandt wanted more money."

A spokeswoman for SoFFin told the magazine, "There were disagreements over employee salaries. SoFFin holds that a bank owned by the state can't be measured by the same standards as private banks."

The government limits manager salaries at bailed-out banks to 500,000 euros ($667,800) a year.

Saved by the state

Munich-based HRE is a prominent German victim of the global financial crisis and almost collapsed in September 2008 when its German-Irish subsidiary Depfa Bank ran into a liquidity squeeze brought on by investment mistakes. Fearing a collapse of Lehman Brothers-like proportions, the German government intervened with loan guarantees and cash injections. The company's nationalization was completed late last year.

Wieandt "took on the responsibility of CEO at the height of the crisis and has made a significant contribution to the stabilization and realignment of the company," HRE's statement said. Wieandt had been head of the company since October 2008.

The statement said the lender's chief risk officer Manuela Better would take over Wieandt's responsibilities until a permanent successor is appointed.

hf/AFP/AP/dpa
Editor: Ben Knight