Commerzbank profits bounce back
COMMERZBANK posted better than expected first-quarter results thanks to strong trading and lower risk provisions but still lagged the stellar earnings of investment banking peers.
Germany’s second-biggest lender has only a small-scale investment banking business, leaving it unable to benefit from some of the stimulus measures that pushed Deutsche Bank Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley to steep rises in quarterly earnings.
Commerzbank said on Thursday net profit was €708m (£602.8m) up from a loss of €864m a year before.
The bank, which required a bailout during the crisis, clearly beat analysts’ estimates of an average €473m but analysts questioned the sustainability of earnings.
Operating profit – which Commerzbank defines as earnings before impairments, restructuring and tax – hit €771m after an operating loss of €595m a year earlier.