Regional German bank WestLB said yesterday the government had submitted a restructuring plan to the European Commission that included cutting a third of its assets by 2015.

These cuts come on top of a 2008 plan that already involved reducing its assets by half, the bank said.

The new proposals also included plans to ease the purchase or transfer of its assets by putting risky holdings such as bad loans in a “bad bank” to be disposed of later when conditions are more favourable.

The bank would split its activities into four parts, some of which could be taken up by savings banks while others were sold to investors, said the bank.

These steps would incur new charges, which would be passed on to shareholders and regional and federal authorities, the statement said.

It did not say how much those charges would be.

Deputy finance minister Steffen Kampeter said they had put three options to the European Commission and that it was now up to it to respond, Dow Jones Newswires reported.

The owners of WestLB – regional savings banks and the German state of North-Rhine Westphalia – had until Tuesday to submit with the federal government a plan to restructure the bank to the European Commission.

They were also expected to propose candidates who were ready to take it over. Media reports have identified interested buyers as the US investment funds Apollo, JC Flowers and Lone Star.