Germany's top banks, whose revenues have been hit by exposure to bad corporate loans, have disclosed plans for a special purpose vehicle (SPV) that will enable them to offload billions of euros of loans into the bond markets through securitisation.

Deutsche Bank, Dresdner Bank, Commerzbank, HVB Group, DZ Bank and Kreditanstalt für Wiederaufbau (KfW), the German state development agency, have signed a memorandum of understanding for the initiative and will become joint shareholders in the SPV.