Frankfurt, May 17, (dpa/GNA) - Germany’s Commerzbank recorded a larger-than-expected jump in profits in the first quarter thanks to higher interest rates and a good fee business.
Net profit in the first quarter jumped to €580 million ($629 million) from €298 million in the prior year, the Frankfurt-headquartered bank said on Wednesday.
This was about €100 million more than analysts had predicted.
“We had a very good start to 2023, continuing the strong performance of the previous year,” said the chairman of the board of managing directors Manfred Knof. “We are fully on track to meet our targets for 2023 including a payout ratio of 50%.”
After a net profit of €1.4 billion for the whole of 2022, Knof expected a significantly higher consolidated result for this year.
Commerzbank expects additional momentum from its return to Germany’s DAX 40 index of blue-chip stocks, with its shares, relisted as of February 27.
In the first quarter, Commerzbank benefited from higher interest rates. Net interest income rose by almost 39% year-on-year to around €1.95 billion.
The bank now expects net interest income to increase to around €7 billion this year.
Meanwhile, risk provisions for possible loan defaults were €68 million, well below the previous year’s figure of €464 million.
GNA