In each state, the landesbank is responsible for conducting wholesale business on behalf of local savings banks, and offering smaller banks hedging and derivatives products. Helaba is the landesbank for the central states of Hesse and Thuringia, the former of which houses central Europe's financial capital, Frankfurt. Like that of other landesbanks, ownership of Helaba is split among Hesse and Thuringia regional governments and a consortium of the smaller banks that Helaba serves. Helaba's role as a landesbank was crucial when it came to New York City in the 1990s, Rioual said, because it meant the bank had a stellar credit rating. "We rate all the German regional states AAA, and until about 2002, there was a strong link between the credit rating of the regional state and the credit rating of the landesbank," Rioual said.