Frankfurt, Germany | AFP | Thursday 2/16/2023
Germany’s second-largest lender Commerzbank said Thursday its net profit tripled in 2022 as the bank prepares for reentry into the Frankfurt Stock Exchange’s blue-chip DAX index.
The group said it made a bottom-line profit of 1.44 billion euros ($1.54 billion) in 2022, up from 430 million euros the previous year.
The result showed Commerzbank’s “turnaround is a success” after years of poor performance and restructuring efforts, CEO Manfred Knof said in a statement.
Commerzbank, like its German rival Deutsche Bank, remained in the black last year despite the impact of the Russian invasion of Ukraine and one-off impacts linked to its Polish subsidiary.
With a second straight year of positive results, the lender looks likely to return to the DAX, the Frankfurt Stock Exchange’s index of the 40 top listed companies in Germany.
Commerzbank was kicked out of the elite club in the second half of 2018 and a decision on its return is expected to be announced by stock exchange operator Deutsche Boerse on Friday.
The lender’s revenues increased by 12 percent in 2022 to 9.5 billion euros as central banks around the world cranked up interest rates.
The increase came despite a 650-million-euro hit to cover losses on foreign-currency mortgages at Polish unit mBank and a further 278-million-euro blow related to a mortgage payment holiday ordered by the government in Warsaw.
The bank also put aside 876 million euros to cover risks which have increased in the wake of the outbreak of war in Ukraine.
Despite rampant inflation, Commerzbank reduced its operating costs by just over six percent to 5.84 billion euros.
Commerzbank has embarked on a major turnaround in recent years, focused on winning new customers, digitisation and reducing its workforce.
The bank said it had culled 9,000 jobs by the end of 2022 of a total 10,000 planned cuts.
Commerzbank was aiming for a result “well above that of 2022” this year as it continued to cut costs, the lender said.
© Agence France-Presse
