Commerzbank Aktiengesellschaft - CMVM

comdirect achieves best result since it was formed
In the 2003 business year, comdirect bank achieved a pre-tax consolidated profit
of 739.1m – easily the best since the bank was formed in 1994. In a year-on-year
comparison, this meant an improvement of 757.7m. The result enables
comdirect to make its first dividend payment. The management board will propose
to the annual general meeting on April 28, 2004, that a dividend of 70.16
per share be paid.
The increase in results can mainly be traced to two effects: for one thing,
operating expenses were significantly reduced again, by almost 19% to
7112.5m; for another, comdirect generated higher commission income. This is
above all due to the “com one programme for the future”, introduced in 2002,
with which comdirect has stabilized its revenues, lowered costs and streamlined
structures.
Compared with the previous year, its customer base expanded by almost
18,000 to reach 640,220 at group level. As a result, comdirect continues to be
Germany’s market leader in online investment. Its UK subsidiary, comdirect ltd.,
increased its number of customers to 49,700.
Securities markets have steadily recovered from their low levels. With a yearon-year
rise of 11.8% in securities orders, comdirect benefited to an aboveaverage
extent from this development. Its net commission income reached
783.1m, representing a 7.7% increase on the previous year. However, net interest
income before provisioning declined by 10.5% to 757.2m. Apart from the
lower level of interest rates, the rise in interest paid was instrumental in this
respect, fuelled by special campaigns to acquire new customers. This was
prompted by the conviction that investing in attractive interest-bearing products
is an efficient way to gain new customers. While interest expenses rose, the
bank took in 7800m in funds and acquired roughly 25,700 new customers. The
total assets under custody expanded altogether by 73.4bn to 710.4bn, thus
reaching their highest level in three years.
In response to the needs of its customers, comdirect bank established and
built up two further strategic pillars in the 2003 business year – parallel to the
ongoing extension of its Online Investment services. In its Direct Banking field of
competence, it bundles the products for short-term financial investments and
modern payments. In its Financial Advisory field of competence, comdirect looks
after its customers’ needs in the area of old-age provision and asset accumulation.
For this purpose, its comdirect private finance AG subsidiary was formed
in 2003. It opened its first office in Munich on October 1, 2003. Hamburg and
Düsseldorf followed in the same year, Frankfurt in January 2004. By implementing
this three-pillar strategy, comdirect is realizing its objective of being the bank
for the modern investor. It combines the efficiency of the online-based business
model with an individual, personal and all-inclusive service for the customer.
The share price of comdirect rose by 182% in the 2003 financial year. The
share thus registered the strongest performance in the MDAX index, in which
comdirect was included in September as the only bank with an online-based
business model.
RETAIL BANKING AND ASSET MANAGEMENT 23