The interest rate turnaround helped Commerzbank achieve record profits last year. The surplus climbed from a good 1.4 billion euros to just over 2.2 billion euros within a year, as the financial house in Frankfurt, which returned to the DAX almost a year ago, announced. The bank thus achieved its best result in 15 years.
CEO Manfred Knof announced that the bank would “increase the group result again in the current year”. After joining Commerzbank at the beginning of 2021, Knof tightened austerity measures. The bank cut thousands of jobs and significantly reduced its branch network in Germany.
However, Commerzbank’s profit could have been significantly higher as early as 2022 had it not been for the more than one billion euros in charges at the time by the Polish subsidiary mBank, among other things in connection with Swiss franc loans. Last year too, special charges in Poland amounting to around 1.1 billion euros depressed the result.
Net income is expected to increase significantly by 2027
In the next few years, more business with wealthy private customers and additional digital offerings for corporate customers are expected to bring Commerzbank even higher profits. The board wants to increase the net result to around 3.4 billion euros by 2027.
The shareholders should also benefit: For the financial years 2022 to 2024, Commerzbank, whose largest shareholder has been the German state since it was rescued with billions in taxes in the 2008/2009 financial crisis, has earmarked a total of three billion euros for dividends and share buybacks. For the 2023 financial year, the bank wants to give its shareholders around one billion euros.
