COMMERZBANK AKTIENGESELLSCHAFT

To our Shareholders Corporate Responsibility Management Report Risk Report Group Financial Statements Further Information 147
91
127 71 Business and overall conditions
135 79 Earnings performance, assets and financial position
147 91 Segment performance
147 91 Private Customers
137 193 Our employees
143 199 Report on events after the reporting period
144 200 Outlook and opportunities report
Segment performance
Private Customers
The Private Customers segment covers the activities of the Private Customers division,
which includes branch business in Germany for private and business customers, as well as
the Wealth Management and the Direct Banking division. With a stable customer base of
around 11 million, we are one of Germany’s leading banks for private customer business.
The merger of Commerzbank’s and Dresdner Bank’s Private Customer business was almost
completed in 2011. In the first half of the year in particular, customer and product data were
migrated onto an IT platform, giving Commerzbank a standardised system. Substantial synergies
have already been realised, but integration-related costs had to be absorbed in the
year under review.
Despite these charges and the challenging market environment, operating performance
was significantly improved compared to 2010, even though we have not yet realised all the
potential from our platform. After a good first quarter in 2011, the follow-up work of the integration
and uncertainty among our customers in response to the European sovereign debt
crisis had a significant impact on business performance. Despite this, we succeeded in substantially
improving our cost structure thanks to further synergies from the integration and
strict cost discipline.
Performance
Private Customers
2011 2010 Change in
€m
%/%-points
Income before provisions 3,820 3,845 – 0.7
Loan loss provisions – 57 – 246 – 76.8
Operating expenses 3,388 3,552 – 4.6
Operating profit/loss 375 47 .
Capital employed 3,375 3,494 – 3.4
Operating return on equity (%) 11.1 1.3 9.8
Cost/income ratio in operating business (%) 88.7 92.4 – 3.7
Table 3
Group Management Report