German banks are pushing the government to hurry up with plans to relieve them of toxic assets and revive lending, Economic Minister Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg said. The government is aiming to complete a draft bill by May 13 aimed at getting rid of these assets, according to published reports.
The Finance Ministry said last month that it may approach a solution to banks bad assets in two steps. The first is to pass an initial law that offers government guarantees for the assets. Measures should then be passed that address the entire banking system.
German banks are estimated to have around 300 billion ($398 billion) in toxic assets on their books and another 500 billion in non-strategic assets that pose less risk to the lenders, according to the Finance Ministry.
