// Agenda
Ingrid Spletter-Weiß, born in 1966 in Wolfenbüttel (Lower Saxony), has been a member of the Executive Board of Norddeutsche Landesbank (NORD/LB) in Hanover since December 1, 2021. She is responsible for the Corporate Clients and Affiliated Business divisions as well as Markets. In addition, she oversees Relationship Management for Saxony-Anhalt, Relationship Asia in Singapore, and the private and business clients of BLSK in Braunschweig.
Thomas Müller has been with Norddeutsche Landesbank since 2017. He is Head of Institutional Sales in the Markets division. Previously, he was responsible at DekaBank for the distribution of capital market and asset management products to insurance companies and pension funds. At Deutsche Bank, he worked in Global Markets as an expert for banks and emerging markets.
Christian Lips (CIIA/CEFA) has been Chief Economist at NORD/LB since 2018 and has been responsible for economic analyses and forecasts related to the business cycle, monetary policy, as well as interest rate and exchange rate developments for more than 17 years. From 2014 to 2016, the graduate economist also prepared the economic forecast for the Lower Saxony Institute for Economic Research (NIW).
For his forecasting accuracy, he has received numerous awards, including multiple top placements in the ThomsonReuters/Starmine Award. Additionally, the magazine €uro has repeatedly named him Interest Rate Forecaster of the Year. Christian Lips has been engaged for years in various teaching and lecturing activities and represents NORD/LB in committees of the VÖB, DSGV, and the Chamber of Industry and Commerce (IHK). Furthermore, he is involved on the board of the Monetärer Workshop e.V., promoting exchange and networking among central bankers, politicians, and financial experts from academia and practice.
Moderator:
Julien Marchand has been serving as Head of Origination FI/SSA at Norddeutsche Landesbank since June 2019. He has been part of the DCM team since 2011 and is responsible for the Northern Europe and France regions. The DCM business of NORD/LB is centrally managed from Hanover and covers mandates in Europe, North America, and the APAC region. In doing so, the bank not only provides its clients on the issuance side access to international institutional investors but specifically also to regional German-speaking investors, including savings banks and cooperative banks, bank treasuries, fund managers, insurance companies, and pension funds.
Panel participants:
Eivind Hegelstad is SpareBank 1 Boligkreditt’s (SpaBol) CFO. SpaBol’s parent banks in the SpareBank 1 Alliance are together Norway’s second largest financial institution. The banks pursue their covered bond funding jointly through their wholly owned SpareBank 1 Boligkreditt subsidiary, a specialist covered bond issuer, which is also a frequent issuer of covered bonds. Eivind Hegelstad joined SpareBank 1 in 2011 and worked previously at Citigroup Global Markets. He holds a MSc from Germany’s Mannheim University Business School and is also a CFA charter holder. He is at SpaBol also responsible for investor relations.
Falk Meyer is Head of Funding, Investor Relations and Rating at Norddeutsche Landesbank – Girozentrale (NORD/LB), headquartered in Hanover.
He is responsible for the bank’s long-term refinancing in the capital markets, which includes in particular the public issuance of covered bonds, senior unsecured bonds, Tier 2 and AT1 instruments, as well as all green bond issuances.
His team is also in charge of further developing the bank’s ESG funding activities and maintaining a continuous and intensive dialogue with investors and rating agencies.
Before taking on his current position, Falk Meyer worked for more than 25 years in treasury and capital markets at NORD/LB.
He studied economics at Leibniz University Hanover, graduating with a degree in Economics (Diplom-Ökonom).
Florian Meyer has been working as a Portfolio Manager at WAVE Management AG since January 2022, where he primarily manages the direct holdings of the VHV Group’s composite insurance companies as well as special fund mandates. He joined the VHV Group in July 2019 as Executive Assistant to the Board in the Investment Division, after previously working in the Debt Capital Markets division of a regional bank.
WAVE Management AG is the asset manager of the VHV Group and manages around EUR 17 billion in assets under management. The VHV Group is a mutual insurance company headquartered in Hanover, operating in the fields of property & casualty insurance as well as life insurance.
Parallel to another lecture
14:00 – 15:15 75 minutesChoose your market:
Market 1: Immobilienmarkt Deutschland „Knapp, knapper, deutscher Wohnungsmarkt? – Preise, Mieten und Verfügbarkeit“
Jens Tolckmitt, born in 1971, has been Chief Executive Officer of the Association of German Pfandbrief Banks (vdp) since 2009.
From January 2003 to May 2009, he was the sole Managing Director of the Association of Foreign Banks in Germany. Between 1998 and 2002, he held various positions at the Association of German Mortgage Banks — the predecessor organization of the vdp — most recently as Head of the Covered Bond/Capital Markets division. Tolckmitt holds a degree in economics, with a focus on monetary macroeconomics and finance.
Room: Auditorium
Market 2: „Wohn- und Hypothekenmarkt Niederlande: Stabil, gefragt, renditestark“
Toine Teulings joined the Treasury department of NIBC Bank in October 2005 with a focus on long-term funding. In his current role he combines his funding responsibilities with debt investor relations and rating agencies. From 1996 to 2005 Toine worked for SNS REAAL where he held positions in Private Banking, Treasury and Asset Management.
Room: Seminar Room 2
Market 3: „Nordlichter, Natur und Neubauten: Der Immobilienmarkt in Norwegen“
Eivind Hegelstad is SpareBank 1 Boligkreditt’s (SpaBol) CFO. SpaBol’s parent banks in the SpareBank 1 Alliance are together Norway’s second largest financial institution. The banks pursue their covered bond funding jointly through their wholly owned SpareBank 1 Boligkreditt subsidiary, a specialist covered bond issuer, which is also a frequent issuer of covered bonds. Eivind Hegelstad joined SpareBank 1 in 2011 and worked previously at Citigroup Global Markets. He holds a MSc from Germany’s Mannheim University Business School and is also a CFA charter holder. He is at SpaBol also responsible for investor relations.
Room: Seminar Room 3
Market 4: „Wohnen in Österreich – auch ohne Flöte zauberhaft bezahlbar“
Matthias Reith looks back on 15 years of experience at Raiffeisen Research, the research unit of the Raiffeisen Banking Group. The Senior Economist focuses his analysis on the Austrian economy and the Austrian real estate market, and he played a key role in establishing research on Austria’s federal states’ real estate markets. In addition, Matthias Reith deals with other euro area countries as well as the eurozone as a whole, with a particular emphasis on fiscal policy issues alongside economic developments. With his economic forecasts, Reith regularly ranks among Austria’s most accurate forecasters
Herbert Radauer has been working in the banking sector for over 20 years, spending more than half of this time in Treasury. Since 2014, he has held a management position and brings extensive experience in client advisory, risk and bank management, as well as Treasury.
His academic background includes a part-time degree in Business Administration and Information Management with a specialization in Controlling and Finance at the Salzburg University of Applied Sciences.
Markus Wührer has been working in the banking sector for 17 years, 15 of which with a focus on fixed income. During this time, he has gained valuable experience in various roles, including product management, sales trading, proprietary trading, and funding.
His academic background includes a degree in Business Administration from the Vienna University of Economics and Business, where he specialized in Investment Banking and Business Informatics.
Room: Seminar Room 4
Parallel to another lecture
15:15 – 16:10 55 minutesModerator:
Thomas Müller has been with Norddeutsche Landesbank since 2017. He is Head of Institutional Sales in the Markets division. Previously, he was responsible at DekaBank for the distribution of capital market and asset management products to insurance companies and pension funds. At Deutsche Bank, he worked in Global Markets as an expert for banks and emerging markets.
Panel participants:
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Since March 2020, Dr Horst Baier has served as the Chief Information Officer (CIO) of the State Government of Lower Saxony, based in the Ministry of the Interior and Sports. In this role, he is responsible for driving digital transformation and represents the state as a member of the Supervisory Board of GovConnect GmbH and the Administrative Board of Dataport AöR.
From 2012 to 2020, he was Mayor of the Joint Municipality of Bersenbrück and previously held various senior management positions in the cities of Salzgitter, Braunschweig and Osnabrück, including Chief Financial Officer of the City of Osnabrück.
He earned his PhD in Economics from TU Braunschweig in 2002, following his degree in economics from the universities of Kiel and Osnabrück.
Jan Berger is the founder and CEO of Themis Foresight – a strategic foresight consultancy based in Berlin, Germany. The historian began his career in the media industry in the mid-1990s. From 2007 to 2011, he headed the Eastern European business of a Danish real estate group and then moved to an award-winning Berlin fintech for two years. For 11 years now, he and his team have been conducting future research and developing scenarios, long-term strategies and technology roadmaps for German corporates.
Since July 2009, Martin Hartmann has been Head of Markets, the global capital markets division of Norddeutsche Landesbank in Hanover. Markets focuses on trading fixed-income securities for German and international institutional investors and also includes the bank’s (FI) DCM segment. In addition, the division manages trading in financial instruments (interest rates and foreign exchange) with the customers of the wholesale franchise. Raising NORD/LB funding is also part of the division’s responsibilities.
In 2020, Heiko entered the position as General Manager of the London Branch of NORD/LB in addition to his role as the Global Head of Structured Finance. Heiko manages a global unit of project finance specialists located in London, New York, Singapore, Hannover and Oldenburg across three time zones, overseeing the origination, execution and management of project finance transactions globally in the energy and infrastructure sector. He plays a key role in the development and control of the strategic portfolio of NORD/LB and planning, coordinating, implementing global projects, funding and capital optimisation strategies.
Authors: James Hoefnagels, Katharina Michalski, Felix Tegeler, Jan Berger, Martin Hartmann, Heiko Ludwig
Moderator:
Dr Norman Rudschuck (CIIA) is an analyst in the Public Issuers/SSA segment within Floor Research, where he covers the public sector as an issuer — ranging from municipalities and federal states or provinces to agencies and supranationals. He has many years of capital market experience and, from 2009 to 2014, was responsible for macroeconomic forecasts related to the United Kingdom (including the Bank of England, GILT yields, and exchange rates). Additionally, he analyzed the gold price and worked for NORD/LB in London.
Dr Rudschuck studied economics at Leibniz University Hannover, where he earned his diploma in 2009. He completed his doctorate part-time at the Institute for Insurance Management (IVBL) at the same university in 2018.
Panel participants:
Nilay Akyildiz is a Director in the International Public Finance Department at Fitch Ratings, based in Frankfurt am Main, responsible for the ratings of the local and regional governments and government-related entities primarily in Turkiye, Nordics, Germany within the EMEA group.
She joined Fitch Ratings in October 2013 from Allianz Invest KAG in Vienna, Austria, where she held various positions. She was responsible for Cash Management and was promoted to Fixed Income Portfolio Manager for Western Europe within EMEA; and she also contributed to the investment committee. During her time at Allianz, she held workshops for private banking employees of Yapi Kredi Bank on Modern Portfolio Theory and Capital Markets as a lecturer within the Austrian Banking Society. Previously, she worked as a Fixed Income Research Analyst at Bank Austria-UniCredit Investment Banking.
She has a Master of Arts degree in Applied Econometrics and holds a BA in Economics from the University of Vienna. She is fluent in English, German and Turkish.
Markus Krause has been working in the Money and Capital Market Transactions Department of the State of Saxony-Anhalt since 2012 and has been Head of the Credit Division since 2022.In this role, he is responsible for the state’s capital market activities and its debt portfolio of €23 billion, which includes a €3 billion commercial paper programme, an €8 billion bond issuance programme, and the regular issuance of benchmark bonds.
In 2023, the state published a Social Bond Framework and has since issued social bonds totalling €1 billion. In 2024, as part of the Eurosystem Exploratory Work, the state issued a digital commercial paper in order to test new technologies for the settlement of DLT-based financial market transactions in central bank money.
Ralf Stünkel has served as the Credit Officer for the State of Lower Saxony at the Lower Saxony Ministry of Finance since 2022. He is responsible for all capital market issuances as well as the state’s portfolio and liquidity management. In parallel, he has overseen the financing activities of Hannoversche Beteiligungsgesellschaft since 2021. His expertise in capital market financing, portfolio management, and liquidity planning is grounded in 15 years of experience in the credit department, complemented by an MSc in Economics (2014), a degree in Public Finance (Diplom-Finanzwirt, 2007), and a degree in Industrial Engineering and Management (Diplom-Wirtschaftsingenieur, 2004).
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Sandra Navidi is a bestselling author as well as the founder and CEO of the New York-based consulting firm BeyondGlobal. She is well connected in the international financial and business world and is a frequent guest in the media. She is admitted to the bar both in the U.S. and in Germany. Ms. Navidi served as an advisor to the successful ZDF series “Bad Banks,” in which she also made guest appearances.
Podcast-Moderator:
Marcel Leist is a Portfolio Manager in the Private Investors division. Together with his colleagues, he is responsible for managing the discretionary portfolio mandates of private and institutional investors (e.g. pension funds, foundations, companies) of NORD/LB, BLSK and their cooperation partners. Another core responsibility is the management of the bank’s own investment funds. He has many years of capital market experience in the multi-asset sector, as well as extensive project experience with a focus on securities and regulatory matters. Following his successful training as a bank clerk, Marcel Leist completed various part-time professional qualifications. Among others, he obtained the title of “Bankbetriebswirt” from the Frankfurt School of Finance & Management and the “Certified International Investment Analyst (CIIA)” designation from the German Association for Financial Analysis and Asset Management (DVFA). He holds a degree in Industrial Engineering (2004).
Since July 2009, Martin Hartmann has been Head of Markets, the global capital markets division of Norddeutsche Landesbank in Hanover. Markets focuses on trading fixed-income securities for German and international institutional investors and also includes the bank’s (FI) DCM segment. In addition, the division manages trading in financial instruments (interest rates and foreign exchange) with the customers of the wholesale franchise. Raising NORD/LB funding is also part of the division’s responsibilities.
Thomas Müller has been with Norddeutsche Landesbank since 2017. He is Head of Institutional Sales in the Markets division. Previously, he was responsible at DekaBank for the distribution of capital market and asset management products to insurance companies and pension funds. At Deutsche Bank, he worked in Global Markets as an expert for banks and emerging markets.
Opening by:
Since July 2009, Martin Hartmann has been Head of Markets, the global capital markets division of Norddeutsche Landesbank in Hanover. Markets focuses on trading fixed-income securities for German and international institutional investors and also includes the bank’s (FI) DCM segment. In addition, the division manages trading in financial instruments (interest rates and foreign exchange) with the customers of the wholesale franchise. Raising NORD/LB funding is also part of the division’s responsibilities.
Thomas Müller has been with Norddeutsche Landesbank since 2017. He is Head of Institutional Sales in the Markets division. Previously, he was responsible at DekaBank for the distribution of capital market and asset management products to insurance companies and pension funds. At Deutsche Bank, he worked in Global Markets as an expert for banks and emerging markets.
Dr Cora Jungbluth is a Senior Expert on China and the Asia-Pacific at the Bertelsmann Stiftung in Gütersloh. Her main focus is on the relations between the EU and China, foreign direct investments (FDI), and international trade, particularly regarding critical dependencies. Cora Jungbluth studied Sinology and Economics at the University of Heidelberg, Shanghai International Studies University, and Tsinghua University in Beijing.
Moderator:
Dr Frederik Kunze is responsible for International Sales in the Markets division of NORD/LB. Prior to this, he spent several years in Floor Research, analyzing national and international markets for covered bonds. He has been with NORD/LB since 2009 and has held various positions in Research and Credit Risk Controlling.
Panel participants:
Michael Dittrich is the Deputy Secretary General of the German Federal Environmental Foundation (DBU), a qualified lawyer, and has been Head of the Finance and Administration Department since 2001. In this role, he is responsible for asset management (€3.4 billion assets under management), as well as the areas of human resources, IT, and financial project controlling. He serves as chair and member of numerous investment committees, gives lectures on the topic of “sustainable investments”, and was head of the Capital Markets Working Group in the German Federal Government’s Sustainable Finance Advisory Council during the last legislative period.
Since July 2024, Sabrina Miehs has been working at the Association of German Pfandbrief Banks (vdp), where she holds a cross-functional role as Head of Sustainable Finance. In addition to her responsibility for the field of Sustainable Finance, she also supports the vdp’s activities at the European level in cooperation with the Brussels office. Prior to joining the vdp, Ms. Miehs worked at Helaba for 11 years. Most recently, she served as a Senior Advisor in the Sustainable Finance Advisory Team and was responsible for FI & SSA Research. Starting in 2013, she established Covered Bond Research at the bank.
Before her time at Helaba, she spent 10 years at Standard & Poor’s, initially as a rating analyst for European securitisations, and later as a covered bond rating analyst and Head of the German as well as Deputy Head of the European Covered Bond Team. During this period, she contributed, among other things, to the development of rating methodologies. Prior to her role at S&P, Ms. Miehs gained experience as a credit analyst at BHF-Bank, focusing on bank balance sheet analysis and trade finance. She began her professional career after completing her training as a bank clerk at Frankfurter Sparkasse, where she worked in various departments. Ms. Miehs holds a degree in Business Administration (Diplom-Betriebswirt) from the Frankfurt School of Finance & Management and a Maîtrise en Ingénierie de la Banque, de la Finance et de l’Assurance from the Université de Caen.
Michael started working in EIB as a Loan Officer for Western Europe in 2007. He focused in particular on banks and corporates in the Netherlands, Belgium and the UK. In 2013, he moved to the German department covering banks and corporates in that country. Since January 2022, Michael is responsible for EIB’s relationship with financial institutions in Central and Southeast Europe as well as EFTA countries.
Michael holds a Degree in Business Administration and Finance from the Frankfurt School of Finance and Management.
Tobias Zehnter heads the ESG Management team at NORD/LB and is responsible for shaping the bank’s strategic direction with regard to Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) matters. He places particular importance on ensuring that ESG is not viewed solely through the lens of regulation and reporting. Instead, he sees his team as a driving force for innovation, proactively identifying and harnessing ESG-related opportunities – with a particular focus on emerging technologies such as hydrogen.
He draws on more than 20 years of market experience, having held various roles at prominent financial institutions including DekaBank and KfW IPEX-Bank. His professional background centres on corporate finance and structured project finance, particularly within the transport sector. Tobias Zehnter holds a degree in Banking (Diplom-Bankbetriebswirt, BA) and began his career in 1996 with a banking apprenticeship. He has been part of the NORD/LB family since 2011.
Parallel to another lecture
11:45 – 13:00 75 minutesChoose your theme:
Theme 1: Biodiversity Economics: “Von der ökologischen Krise zur finanziellen Verantwortung”
Moritz Stompfe is a Sustainability Manager in the ESG Management team at NORD/LB. He leads the areas of ESG Regulation as well as Reporting & Steering, and is passionately focused on the topic of biodiversity in credit institutions (particularly KPIs), which is also the subject of his current doctoral research. He has been with NORD/LB since 2012 and previously held various positions in the finance sector.
Room: Auditorium
Theme 2: Bank Treasuries: “Der ESG-Ansatz in LCR-Portfolios – alles grau statt grün?“
For the past two years, Christoph Anhamm has been looking after financial institutions based in Germany and Austria in NORD/LB’s DCM Team, focusing mainly on general consulting and executing capital market transactions. His other speciality is ESG-related topics and issues, with NORD/LB having successfully established itself as social bonds structurer in recent years. Before working for NORD/LB Christoph was also a DCM manager at ABN AMRO and RBS.
Johannes Ermel has been working in DCM Origination at NORD/LB since the end of 2024. In his role as an Originator, he covers financial institutions from Germany, Austria, and the Netherlands. In this capacity, he supports the issuance of rates and credit products. He gained his first professional experience at LfA in Munich in the Trading and Treasury division.
He completed his training as a bank clerk at Stadtsparkasse München. Afterwards, he studied Business Administration with a focus on Finance at DHBW Ravensburg, where he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in a dual study program.
Room: Seminar Room 2
Theme 3: „FinanzServiceAgentur Hamburg – Neue Wege der Finanzierung im öffentlichen Sektor“
Sven Padberg is a member of the Executive Board of the FinanzServiceAgentur of the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg AöR (FSA), a newly established group financing entity that provides services for the core budget and associated enterprises. He brings with him extensive capital market and investment management experience gained through his leadership roles in asset management and the credit department of Hamburg’s Ministry of Finance, as well as his work on the project to establish the Hamburg Investment and Development Bank. Prior to his time in Hamburg, Sven Padberg worked as Brand Manager for Germany, Austria, and Switzerland at Procter & Gamble. He studied Business Administration at the University of Münster and the Vienna University of Economics and Business, and previously completed his training as a bank clerk at Westdeutsche Landesbank.
Dr Christoph Hünecken is responsible for the capital market activities and liquidity management of the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg at FinanzServiceAgentur Hamburg. He also oversees the emerging “Clients” department, which is tasked with financing public holdings, providing advisory services, or arranging suitable financing instruments. His extensive capital market experience stems particularly from his role as Head of the Credit Department at the City of Hamburg. Prior to this, he worked on municipal projects related to HSH Nordbank and the Hamburg Investment and Development Bank. Dr Christoph Hünecken holds a degree in economics and earned his doctorate from the University of Münster.
Room: Seminar Room 3
Theme 4: „Französische Social Bonds im Geiste von „Liberté, Égalité, Fraternité“
Ralf Berninger holds a Master’s degree in Economics from the University of Bonn and began his career as a fixed-income syndicate manager at WestLB. He subsequently held senior Debt Capital Markets positions at DZ BANK, Calyon (now Crédit Agricole CIB), and served as Head of Origination at Dexia Group before joining SFIL in 2013. He is a CFA charterholder and was elected to the ICMA Green and Social Bond Principles Advisory Council in both 2020 and 2024.
Room: Seminar Room 4
Prof Dr Carlo Masala is one of the leading experts on international politics and security. He is a Professor of International Politics at the Bundeswehr University Munich and an analyst specializing in global security policy, transatlantic relations, NATO issues, and geopolitical conflicts.
Since July 2009, Martin Hartmann has been Head of Markets, the global capital markets division of Norddeutsche Landesbank in Hanover. Markets focuses on trading fixed-income securities for German and international institutional investors and also includes the bank’s (FI) DCM segment. In addition, the division manages trading in financial instruments (interest rates and foreign exchange) with the customers of the wholesale franchise. Raising NORD/LB funding is also part of the division’s responsibilities.
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