COMMERZBANK AKTIENGESELLSCHAFT

Group Management Report
142
86 Commerzbank Annual Report 2011
The refinancing profile is actively managed based on regular structural analyses. The
liquidity position was consistently stable in 2011. This was facilitated by
• early fulfilment of the funding plan for capital market refinancing in the reporting period,
and implementation of €2bn in funding transactions in anticipation of 2012,
• stable deposit business and Commerzbank’s focus on the core segments Mittelstandsbank
and Private Customers,
• the further reduction in balance sheet volumes,
• the scheduled reduction in non-strategic positions in the Portfolio Restructuring Unit
segment and
• the reduction in Public Finance activities and commercial real estate financing in the Asset
Based Finance segment that were not part of core activities.
After interest rates were increased in the first half of 2011, the ECB then reduced them
twice towards year-end. This was because the global economic momentum steadily decreased
in the second half of the year. Given the worsening European sovereign debt crisis
and the great uncertainty about a successful restructuring of national budgets, the ECB decided
to take further action in December to try to stabilise the banking system. This included
introducing two 3-year tenders, expanding the collateral catalogue, reducing the minimum
reserve rate from 2% to 1% and discontinuing, for the time being, the additional fine-tuning
operations until the end of a minimum reserve period.
Despite a difficult market environment, Commerzbank had unrestricted access to the
money and capital markets throughout the reporting period, and was at all times able to
raise the funds required for a balanced funding mix.
Funding structure in 2011
Commerzbank also had unrestricted access to secured and unsecured funding on the money
and capital markets in 2011. Its liquidity position continued to be stable. Thanks to its conservative
and forward-looking funding strategy, Commerzbank Aktiengesellschaft did not
need to draw on central bank liquidity facilities in 2011 and was able to continue to seek
funding for standard market maturities without restriction on money markets, even in the
short-term segment. This reflects the Bank’s good standing in the market.