Commerzbank's sustainability strategy also applies to its lending policy. All loans that have a significant environmental, ethical or social dimension are subjected to detailed assessment by the Reputational Risk Management unit. Depending on the outcome of the check, the loan may be refused.
The prospects of our corporate clients for delivering a sustainable business performance are as a rule factored into their credit rating and evaluated using their forecasts and the outlook for their sector as a whole. Ecological risk is part of the loan assessment, too. If environmental aspects are of special significance for a company, external experts are requested to assess the risk professionally.
Commerzbank is one of the leading institutions in the Eurozone when it comes to processing export payments and letters of credit for exports. The Mittelstandsbank segment of Commerzbank supports its clients who export durable capital goods and are based mainly in Germany and other European countries, by offering loans or credits linked to the delivery of the goods. These loans are largely guaranteed by the exporting countries. In its assessment of the environmental relevance of transactions, the Bank always relies on the checks conducted by the national credit insurer as part of the process for issuing the guarantee. In Germany, a consortium comprising Euler Hermes Kreditversicherungs-AG and PricewaterhouseCoopers AG is responsible for the checks.
Around 90 per cent of Commerzbank project financing is realised in Europe. Adherence to national environmental guidelines is monitored as part of careful project assessment (due diligence). External experts are commissioned to provide an opinion on possible environmental risks. To date, Commerzbank has only been involved in a small number of projects in developing countries. In financing such projects, the Bank’s objective has been to cooperate either with supranational institutions such as International Finance Corporation (IFC) or with national export credit insurance agencies. Their standards therefore apply automatically.
