230967 com titel gb 02 e

Klaus-Peter Müller April 2003
Chairman of the Board
of Managing Directors
We know that you cannot be content with the picture presented of
Commerzbank. We are not content either, because we find the darker
tones of this picture exaggerated and feel that our share price is out of
touch with reality. This reality is something we are actively tackling; we
are doing all that we can to alter this picture, to brighten it up and to show
it in a better light with the aid of convincing facts.
Last year, our main activity was to remould the Commerzbank Group
into a lean, flexible and modern provider of financial services at the heart
of Europe. We have moved quite a long way in that direction, but we have
also been obliged to recognize that the path we have chosen is stony,
passing through inhospitable territory.
In all our measures it was important for us not to overtax or place
undue strain upon our relationships with customers – in other words,
the very basis of our business – but, on the contrary, to build upon these.
More than ever, we are convinced that any promising business model for
a bank rests upon long-term relationships with its customers. Put in contemporary
terms, this means that we continue to see the consistent relationship-banking
approach as superior to deal-based transaction banking.
We present in detail the individual aspects and the progress made
with the restructuring of Commerzbank on the following pages of our
annual report. Having read it, you will come to the conclusion that we
have achieved some things more quickly than originally expected. Other
projects have not made such rapid progress, as the hostile economic
climate and the weakness of the stock markets have even grown worse
rather than improving.
In addition, the mistrust of the media, analysts and investors towards
Germany and also towards the entire German banking industry has
increased, and in mutually reinforcing waves so to speak has hit the individual
institutions. We continue to believe that transparency and frank
communication are the only effective antidotes. At the same time, the
Federal Financial Supervisory Authority, the Bundesbank and the