Hypo Alpe-Adria Bank, Austria's fourth largest bank which is currently at the centre of a criminal investigation into currency trading losses, is "highly unlikely" to continue with its plans for initial public offering this year, according to sources close to the situation.

Wolfgang Kultere, chairman of HAAB, said this week that a former head of the bank's treasury department was the subject of a criminal investigation by the Austrian authorities after the discovery of a €328m ($400m) loss relating to speculative currency trades in 2004.