Commerzbank has removed three senior executives believed to be connected to the group's sub-prime losses.

Hans Joachim Doepp, head of New York operations, and Juergen Boysen, responsible for Commerzbank’s credit business in New York, are departing. Michael Schmid, head of the bank's global credit business at its Frankfurt headquarters, has been given another position within the bank.

The bank spokesman declined to comment on the reasons for the departures. However it is thought that they are connected to the bank's sub-prime problems.

In the third quarter Commerzbank had to write off €291 million on its US sub-prime portfolio.

Commerzbank has €1.2 billion of sub-prime loans, two-thirds of which is in real estate financing unit Eurohypo, which Commerzbank acquired two years ago.

The credit crunch has already brought down two German banks - IKB, a private corporate lender and Sachsen LB, the east German public landesbank.

However, the major institutions like Commerzbank are expected to capitalise on the weaknesses the credit crunch has exposed in the country's banking sector.

Commerzbank has said that it expects to be a prime mover in the long-awaited consolidation of the industry. Germany's banking sector has several hundred financial institutions making it one of the world's most fragmented.

The bank has streamlined its business in recent years, withdrawing from markets where it is unable or unwilling to compete.

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