50 percent more in six months
Rising interest rates give Commerzbank a healthy profit
8/4/2023 7:32 p.m
Commerzbank boss Knof warns companies against moving investments abroad. In order to make Germany more attractive as a business location, he advises the federal government to adopt an agenda for the future. At least for Commerzbank things are going well. She is happy about a good quarterly result.
Commerzbank increased its profit significantly in the second quarter of this year and sees itself as staying on course. From April to June, the consolidated result rose to around 565 million euros and was thus 20 percent higher than in the same period last year, as Commerzbank announced. It benefits from the sharp rise in interest rates.
“The first half of 2023 was again a very good one for Commerzbank. We are consistently implementing our strategy and, thanks to strong earnings in customer business, have significantly increased profit,” said CEO Manfred Knof. In the first half of the year, profit was around 1.1 billion euros, an increase of 50 percent.
Net interest income climbed 44 percent year-on-year to 2.1 billion euros in the second quarter. For the year as a whole, Commerzbank raised its forecast for interest income to EUR 7.8 billion. In principle, the transformation of Commerzbank is “increasingly paying off,” explained CFO Bettina Orlopp. The institute had closed hundreds of branches and cut jobs in recent years.
Knof criticizes “investment reluctance” in Germany
On Thursday, the bank said it would recruit 90 new employees. They should go into discussions directly on site and show customers “how online banking works”. In recent months, there have been repeated reports of long queues in front of branches and angry customers.
Against the background of the weak phase of the German economy, Knof warns against companies moving planned investments abroad. “There is a real reluctance to invest here and customers are more willing to invest abroad,” said Knof in an interview with ntv.
In North America in particular, there are “many attractive situations where customers are now considering investing,” says Knof. In order to get the economy in Germany going again, Knof calls for a future agenda from politicians. This must focus on “investments in economic growth, in digitization, in infrastructure, also in the core industry”. The federal government currently holds a stake of almost 16 percent in Commerzbank. Knof is relaxed about the federal government leaving Commerzbank: “We could certainly handle that well, because there are many interested parties in this bank”.