COMMERZBANK AKTIENGESELLSCHAFT

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Commerzbank AG
Operational risk
Operational risk (OpRisk) at Commerzbank is based on the German Solvency Regulation and
is defined as the risk of loss resulting from the inadequacy or failure of internal processes
and systems, people or from external events. This definition includes legal risks; it does not
cover reputational risks or strategic risks.
OpRisk management
The management and limitation of operational risks differs systematically from limiting
credit and market risk, since the relevant management units are not made up of individual
clients or positions but internal processes. For this type of risk we focus on anticipatory
management by the segments and cross-sectional units based on an overarching risk strategy
for operational risks and their specific aspects.
Areas for action and quantitative guidelines for the risk strategy are defined at Group level
and segment level. Management issues are regularly examined in meetings of the Group and
segment OpRisk committees.
The identification of intra-risk concentrations is carried out via the evaluation of the
Group’s OpRisk profile. This primarily involves analysis of incurred loss events (realised losses
and provisions), the parameters derived from the capital model (EL, RWA and economically
required capital) and forward-looking scenarios in particular by type of event category and
incurring unit, the results of which are reported to the OpRisk committees of the Group.
Management of the Commerzbank Group’s legal risks on a worldwide basis is handled by
Group Legal. One of the core functions of Group Legal is to recognise potential losses from
legal risks at an early stage, to propose solutions for minimising, limiting or avoiding such
risks and to establish the necessary provisions.
OpRisk developments
We continued to pursue our objective of improving the Group OpRisk profile in the year
under review. The main priority here was to optimise our methods and processes, in particular
the ongoing development of the early warning system.
This was also reflected in the decrease in the charge for operational risks. The total charge
to Commerzbank in 2011 for OpRisk events (losses plus changes in provisions for operational
risks recognised in equity and ongoing litigation) was €250m (previous year: €274m).