The watchdog comes through the back door. She has for weeks. Sybille Roggenkamp from the Finance Ministry is looking into the losses the HSH bank made last year, because the taxpayers will have to cover them. What does the state controller find in the files? The HSH Nordbank lost 2 point 8 billion euros last year. And this year may be just as bad.

The bank can no longer get credit as cheaply as it once did. The rating agencies no longer give it top ratings. It’s now evaluated as mediocre. Things seemed different in 2007. Back then, the bank could buy the Volkspark Stadium and put its name on it. The trade in foreign securities was still booming. Today everyone speaks of toxic assets.

Dirk Gärtner is a banker at HSH, just below the executive board in the hierarchy. He still seems surprised. The bank wanted to be a global player, but somehow he and his colleagues didn’t keep their eye on the ball. Gärtner explains: "A loss of 2 point 8 billion dollars, that’s really in dimensions that are quite painful, and none of us expected this to happen in this way."

Gärtner heads the bank's business client department. Now he has to bring his people back from abroad. Business abroad has gone bust. So now the bank is rediscovering Germany.

The new Endo Clinic in Hamburg is an example of the new direction the bank is taking. Nordbank lent the clinic 40 million euros. A couple of years ago, that was just loose change. Now it’s a showcase project.

Nordbank’s primary business, credit for shipbuilding, is doing poorly. The small shipyard Hanseatic Global Shipping in Hamburg is feeling the consequences. It received no credit from the HSH Nordbank.

The chief of the company, Ingolf Martens, says: "They didn’t really give us any explanation. The bank apparently made a judgment about the market: you can share that judgment or not. We don’t, of course, because we are still betting on the future of what we consider the long-term successful model of container feeder ships."

The shipyard executive is not alone. But he found other investors. That’s why he’s willing to talk about the situation. Many others prefer not to publicize their difficulties.

Meanwhile, the state controller’s head is full of figures. Her work is over for today, but she’ll be returning here for weeks. One thing is predictable: the HSH Nordbank will soon be cutting 1,100 jobs.