Direction multichannel bank

New internet portal for more than 100,000 users
Expansion of the mobile offering for treasury and payment transaction information
Significant investment in new platforms, expansion of functionalities, as well as mobile innovations

The requirements placed on small- and medium-sized enterprises are changing with increasing digitalisation and the growing pressure to become more efficient. More and more decision-makers are attaching the highest strategic relevance to the digitalisation of entrepreneurial processes – “Industry 4.0” covers all sectors. For this reason Commerzbank Mittelstandsbank has extensively revised and expanded its digital and multichannel offerings for more than 100,000 users. The core of this is formed by the new corporate client portal www.commerzbank.com/corporateclients . This has been completely overhauled, equipped with intuitive user navigation, expanded to include numerous new functions.

Also new is an app for cash management within companies. This additional offering to regular online banking is available for Android and iOS smartphones; at the touch of a button it shows the latest account balance as well as transactions from as many as 15 domestic and foreign accounts – both at Commerzbank and other institutions. In the closed area of the portal the ‘FX Live Trader’ and ‘Live Confirm’ platforms allow for real-time foreign exchange trading around the clock. Furthermore, with the web app Treasury Management System companies can optimise their payment flows, for example with Cash Concentrating or the establishment of a so-called Payment Factory.

“Technophile CEOs and CFOs increasingly have other needs nowadays, and they want contemporary offerings. In addition, they wish to equip their employees with mobile working media so that they are able to communicate via differing channels – and also with their financial partners,” says Holger Werner, the divisional board member responsible for Corporate Banking. “We are reacting to this. We are modernising our online site for corporate clients, expanding the mobile offering and equipping our consultants with new technology. With these measures Mittelstandsbank is heading into the second decade of its success story full of confidence,” adds Werner.

In March 2014 Commerzbank – as the first major bank on continental Europe – launched an incubator which invests in financial technology start-ups. The company, which trades under the brand name main incubator, is supporting Commerzbank in particular with the digitalisation of the corporate client business – through targeted investments in start-ups with promising solutions or as a company builder. main incubator accompanies FinTech start-ups through to the market launch of products. In this respect the focus is on the corporate client business. The offering to the start-ups encompasses access to the corporate clients of Commerzbank, equity capital financing, banking know-how, office space and infrastructure in Frankfurt. To date main incubator has made two strategic investments: in Gini, a forerunner in semantic real-time and self-optimising data analysis and processing, and in Traxpay, a B2B dynamic payments provider.

Further testimony to concentration on the business models of corporate clients is the greater regional focus of Mittelstandsbank. “Through streamlined hierarchies we have transferred greater decision-making competence to the local units. Thus reaction times and implementation periods are both reduced considerably. For example, after the submission of all the documentation we present a credit decision on volumes of up to 5 million euros within 72 hours,” says Werner.

About Commerzbank

Commerzbank is a leading international commercial bank with branches and offices in more than 50 countries. The core markets of Commerzbank are Germany and Poland. With the business areas Private Customers, Mittelstandsbank, Corporates & Markets and Central & Eastern Europe, its private customers and corporate clients, as well as institutional investors, profit from a comprehensive portfolio of banking and capital market services. Commerzbank finances more than 30 per cent of Germany’s foreign trade and is the unchallenged leader in financing for SMEs. With its subsidiaries comdirect and Poland’s mBank it owns two of the world’s most innovative online banks. With approximately 1,100 branches and approximately 90 advisory centres for business customers Commerzbank has one of the densest branch networks among German private banks. In total, Commerzbank boasts approximately 15 million private customers, as well as 1 million business and corporate clients. The Bank, which was founded in 1870, is represented at all the world’s major stock exchanges. In 2014, it generated gross revenues of almost EUR 9 billion with an average of approximately 52,000 employees.