Political dialogue

Why political dialogue is important

, The Bank's political communication

Politicians and the public expect Commerzbank to be internationally active and comment on relevant economic policy issues regularly. As part of the democratic opinion-forming process, Commerzbank aims to promote informed decisions that are oriented toward the common good. The focus is on explaining banking and financial market issues. We support politicians and administrators in building up and expanding their sector-related knowledge. This serves as a basis for informed decisions. Openness and transparency are incontrovertible guiding principles for this. We call this approach "smart lobbying".

Public Affairs Division

With the Public Affairs department, we accompany the political-regulatory challenges and debates in Germany, Europe and internationally. In order to gain a sound understanding of issues and develop our own stances, we liaise closely with representatives from academia and research organizations. We participate in events that deal with political topics. Furthermore, we engage in transparent dialogue with key political and social stakeholders. Commerzbank hosts regular events series, establishing a platform for continuous exchange of opinions and collaboration. These events include „Zukunftswerkstatt am Brandenburger Tor“, "Politisches Frühstück" and "Mittagswerkstatt" in Berlin and "Lunch Lab" in Brussels as well as the Jahresempfang in Washington.

Transparency

We welcome initiatives to increase transparency in the involvement of stakeholders in political decision-making processes. Therefore, we are registered in the German Lobbying Register (German only) for the representation of special interests to the German Bundestag and the Federal Government. Since 2022, we have been reporting on our persons acting, memberships, annual expenses, and objectives of political interest representation. In addition to registration at the federal level, we are listed in the Hessische Lobbyregister (German only) since March 2025. Furthermore we are registered in the EU Transparency Register since 2008 and report on active participants, memberships and annual expenditure associated with political interests representation.

Political Communication Guideline

In our Guideline for Political Communication, we follow the open and transparent guiding principle "Smart Lobbying". We therefore implement the restrictions and obligations arising from the German Lobbying Register Act, the lobby register laws of the federal states, the European Transparency Register, and the Lobbying Disclosure Act in the USA.

In addition, we also comply with the Code of Conduct for Stakeholders under the Lobby Register Act the Guideline for Cultivation of Contacts in the Political Arena (German only) of the German Public Relations Council (DRPR) and the Political Lobbying Principles (German only) of the Association of German Banks (BdB).