COMMERZBANK AKTIENGESELLSCHAFT

To our Shareholders Corporate Responsibility Management Report Risk Report Group Financial Statements Further Information 103 159
127 71 Business and overall conditions
135 79 Earnings performance, assets and financial position
147 91 Segment performance
101 157 Mittelstandsbank
137 193 Our employees
143 199 Report on events after the reporting period
144 200 Outlook and opportunities report
Efficient and competent partner for foreign business
Our growing significance in processing international business together with a still strong
worldwide operating presence offers a solid basis on which to support our customers in
Germany and abroad in their international activities. In expanding its product range to include
Renminbi accounts in 2011, Commerzbank is also offering its customers the opportunity
of conducting trading business in the Chinese local currency by maintaining Renminbi
accounts to do so. Classic commercial foreign business is a cornerstone. Last year, no other
German bank processed more letters of credit for German exporters than Commerzbank. In
addition to funding exports with state backing (Euler Hermes), our range also includes solutions
such as purchasing privately backed export claims which are a unique feature on the
market. Last year we continued to offer our corporate customers the opportunity to hedge risk
on their international business. We also increased our international presence on the support
side. Last year, Mittelstandsbank competently and successfully supported companies beyond
our core market of Germany. By opening a branch in Zurich in August 2011, we can now also
offer needs-driven support in Switzerland for our internationally active customers.
Best bank for cash management again
The performance of our cash management was confirmed by a survey conducted by the
trade journal “Euromoney”, with Commerzbank voted the best cash management bank in
Germany again for 2011. This means that we successfully defended our 2010 title, having
impressively put our high level of service and performance in payment transactions, cash
pooling and treasury management to the test again.
Advisory services with a focus on needs-oriented solutions
In investment and risk management, we again convinced our corporate customers of the
benefit of customised capital market products in 2011, even in volatile times. This enabled us
to once again report double-digit growth figures for this area versus last year. Commerzbank’s
performance was highlighted by first-place rankings in currency, risk and commodities management
in the “German risk derivatives rankings” category. We were able to continue expanding
our market position by acquiring stable deposit volumes, which was a welcome development
in view of the forthcoming regulatory requirements under Basel III. Our much
observed study on commodities and energy from the “UnternehmerPerspektiven” range
clearly showed that corporate customers continue to have a strong need for commodities
hedging. In times of major price volatility, our quarterly commodities radar facilitates transparency,
and by hedging volatile positions we enable our customers to gain planning security.
Mittelstand Germany
In the Mittelstand Germany division, we concentrate on serving SME customers with a turnover
of between €2.5m and €500m, public-sector customers and institutional customers. Our
clear focus on long-term business partnerships makes us a strategic partner for our customers.
Our sales organisation has a close sales network of 150 locations that provides our customers
with competent and needs-driven local support through our corporate customer advisors
and product specialists. A strategic success factor in this regard is our customer
proximity.
Group Management Report