HypoVerein, Bank Austria plan alliance FRANKFURT: Germany's HypoVereinsbank AG is in negotiations with Bank Austria about a large-scale cooperation, Germany's Spiegel magazine said on Saturday. ``I cannot confirm this,'' Bank Austria spokesman Martin Hehemann said. ``But I can say that generally over the medium- to long-term it would make sense to consider linking up with a big international group, especially in order to reduce costs in information technology,'' he added. Citing high-ranking managers at HypoVereinsbank, Der Spiegel said in an article to appear in its latest edition due on Monday that negotiations had been going on between the two banks for a considerable amount of time. Der Spiegel added that Bank Austria, Austria's largest bank, matched well with HypoVereinsbank and the German bank's strategy of becoming a ``bank of the regions'' in retail banking across Europe. A spokesman for HypoVereinsbank gave no direct comment on the report, saying: ``We don't take part in speculation.'' HypoVereinsbank, Germany's second largest bank, is seeking to strengthen its positioning in the wake of Thursday's merger between rivals Deutsche Bank AG and Dresdner Bank. HypoVereinsbank Chief Executive Albrecht Schmidt said on Friday his bank would have to consider strengthening ties to reinsurance giant Munich Re, which controls Germany's second-largest primary insurer Ergo AG. Schmidt also said that the result of such considerations could involve strengthening ties to Germany's largest insurer Allianz AG, which was instrumental in Deutsche Bank's de facto takeover of Dresdner.(Reuters)
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