Commerzbank: ECB reduces capital requirements (SREP)

Risk and balance sheet reductions of recent years pay off
Pure CET 1 requirement for 2019 at 10.11%

The European Central Bank (ECB) has reduced the bank-specific capital requirements (Pillar 2 Requirement) for Commerzbank by 0.25 percentage points to 2.0% after the 2018 Supervisory Review and Evaluation Process (SREP). This reflects the major progress the Bank made in the improvement of its risk profile, including the reduction of its credit risks.

The successful reduction of risk profile and balance sheet in recent years is also reflected in the decision of the German supervisory authority to keep the buffer for otherwise systemically important institutions (O-SII) at 1.0% for 2019. The originally scheduled increase to 1.5% has been postponed.

The pure Common Equity Tier 1 (CET 1) requirement for Commerzbank now stands at 10.11% for this year. This requirement consists of the Pillar 1 Minimum of 4.5%, the Pillar 2.0 Requirement of 2.0%, the Capital Conservation Buffer of 2.5%, the buffer for otherwise systemically important institutions (O-SII) of 1.0% and the Countercyclical Capital Buffer of 0.11%. With a CET1 ratio of 12.9% at the end of 2018, Commerzbank was well above regulatory requirements. The Bank is targeting a CET1 ratio of at least 12.75% by the end of 2019.

About Commerzbank

Commerzbank is a leading international commercial bank with branches and offices in almost 50 coun­tries. In the two business segments Private and Small Business Customers and Corporate Clients, the Bank offers a comprehensive portfolio of financial services which is precisely aligned to its clients’ needs. Commerzbank finances approximately 30% of Germany’s foreign trade and is the leading finance provider for corporate clients in Germany. Due to its in-depth sector know-how in the German economy, the Bank is a leading provider of capital market products. Its subsidiaries Comdirect in Germany and mBank in Poland are two of the world’s most innovative online banks. With approximately 1,000 branches, Commerzbank has one of the densest branch networks among German private banks. In total, Commerzbank serves more than 18 million private and small business customers, as well as more than 70,000 corporate clients, multinationals, financial service providers, and institutional clients worldwide. In 2018, it generated gross revenues of €8.6 billion with approximately 49,000 employees.

Disclaimer

This release contains forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are statements that are not historical facts. In this release, these statements concern inter alia the expected future business of Commerzbank, efficiency gains and expected synergies, expected growth prospects and other opportunities for an increase in value of Commerzbank as well as expected future financial results, restructuring costs and other financial developments and information. These forward-looking statements are based on the management’s current plans, expectations, estimates and projections. They are subject to a number of assumptions and involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause actual results and developments to differ materially from any future results and developments expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Such factors include the conditions in the financial markets in Germany, in Europe, in the USA and other regions from which Commerzbank derives a substantial portion of its revenues and in which Commerzbank holds a substantial portion of its assets, the development of asset prices and market volatility, especially due to the ongoing European debt crisis, potential defaults of borrowers or trading counterparties, the implementation of its strategic initiatives to improve its business model, the reliability of its risk management policies, procedures and methods, risks arising as a result of regulatory change and other risks. Forward-looking statements therefore speak only as of the date they are made. Commerzbank has no obligation to update or release any revisions to the forward-looking statements contained in this release to reflect events or circumstances after the date of this release.