Commerzbank with record profit in 2023
Published: Thursday, Feb 15th 2024, 07:40
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The turnaround in interest rates helped Commerzbank achieve a record profit last year. The surplus climbed from a good 1.4 billion euros to just over 2.2 billion euros within a year.
The bank thus achieved its best result in 15 years, as the financial institution announced in Frankfurt on Thursday. Group CEO Manfred Knof also announced that the bank would "increase the Group result again in the current year".
Knof had tightened the austerity measures after taking over at Commerzbank at the beginning of 2021. The bank cut thousands of jobs and significantly reduced its branch network in Germany.
However, Commerzbank's profit could have already been significantly higher in 2022 if it had not been for the more than one billion euros in charges from the Polish subsidiary mBank, including in connection with Swiss franc loans. Special charges in Poland amounting to around 1.1 billion euros also depressed the result last year.
In the coming years, more business with wealthy private clients and additional digital offerings for corporate clients should bring Commerzbank even higher profits. The Board of Managing Directors aims to increase net profit to around 3.4 billion euros by 2027.
Shareholders are also set to benefit: For the financial years 2022 to 2024, Commerzbank, whose largest owner since it was bailed out with billions in taxpayers' money during the 2008/2009 financial crisis is the German state, has earmarked a total of three billion euros for dividends and share buybacks. For the 2023 financial year, the bank intends to benefit its shareholders with around one billion euros.
©Keystone/SDA
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