BANKING: HLB AND LB KIEL MERGER CLEARED BY COMMISSION.

Two German public sector banks, Hamburgische Landesbank Girozentrale (HLB) and Landesbank Schleswig-Holstein Girozentrale Kiel (LB Kiel), have been granted clearance to merge by the European Commission. The Commission was notified of the proposed merger on March 24 and cleared it under the simplified review procedure on April 28. HLB is a universal bank and the municipal bank of Hamburg, jointly controlled by Freie Hansestadt Hamburg (FHH) and the...