COMMERZBANK AKTIENGESELLSCHAFT

To our Shareholders Corporate Responsibility Management Report Risk Report Group Financial Statements Further Information 149 205
127 71 Business and overall conditions
135 79 Earnings performance, assets and financial position
147 91 Segment performance
137 193 Our employees
143 199 Report on events after the reporting period
144 200 Outlook and opportunities report
The Bank uses mainly private placements with its own customers for placing unsecured
bonds. It will continue to use market opportunities to place larger public-sector transactions.
Secured funding is mainly through Pfandbriefe which are issued by Eurohypo AG Activities
in 2012 will be strongly dominated by the continuing sovereign debt crisis. By regularly reviewing
and adjusting the assumptions we use for liquidity management, the Bank will continue
to respond actively to changes in the market environment in order to secure a solid liquidity
cushion and an appropriate funding structure.
Planned investments
Investment activities have been closely linked to the integration of Dresdner Bank since
2008. The bank-wide integration project was completed in 2011 and the remaining activities
transferred to line organisation. By year-end 2011, €2.4bn of the €2.5bn costs budgeted for
the integration had already been incurred. A total of €40m in integration costs is planned for
the branch merger programme in 2012. The integration costs will produce annual savings of
€2.4bn once implementation is fully completed. Of this amount, we had already achieved
€1.8bn by the end of 2011. A further €0.3bn are planned for 2012.
Following on from the integration project, Commerzbank began the bankwide “Commerzbank
Excellence” programme in the third quarter of 2011 to boost quality and efficiency. Due
to run until 2014, it aims to optimise Commerzbank’s core processes. “Commerzbank Excellence”
is designed to improve the functioning of customer-relevant basic processes in order
to optimise structures and to more effectively shape and add quality to work processes
throughout the Bank and in individual teams. We therefore expect a significant rise in customer
and employee satisfaction while at the same time boosting efficiency and reducing
costs. The “Commerzbank Excellence” programme is intended to be self-funding through
the cost savings it is expected to bring.
As a result of rising regulatory requirements, Commerzbank will have to make substantial
investments to fulfil national and international standards. The Bank will be additionally investing
around €120m in implementation in 2012. The more precise definition of equity
capital, complex transition arrangements and new comprehensive reporting requirements
(COREP, FINREP, Pillar III disclosure) will increase the cost of evaluations and reporting to
the banking authorities. In terms of market risk and counterparty risk management, internal
models will have to be adjusted to take account of, for example, stress scenarios, credit riskrelated
valuation adjustments and other risk factors. With the leverage ratio and the two new
liquidity indicators – the LCR and NSFR – new figures will have to be calculated which will
have far-reaching implications on liquidity risk management and are linked to comprehensive
reporting requirements. Investment is also required in order to implement tax regulations.
Investment projects in Private Customers, Mittelstandsbank, Central & Eastern Europe,
Corporates & Markets and Asset Based Finance segments as well as the “Group Finance Architecture”
project are explained in more detail below.
Following the successful merger of Dresdner Bank’s and Commerzbank’s IT infrastructure
and customer systems in 2011, the Private Customers segment will complete the merger of
branches by the end of the current year. As part of this implementation, we will also continue
turning branches into the new “Branch of the Future” and “Branch of the Future Plus” models,
which will feature an improved advisory offering for customers and more services in selfservice
areas. Using the revised “Management, governance, advisory process and information
management” tool, the Private Customers segment will create the basis for a new quality
of advising. This will necessitate investment in the training of managers and advisors, as
Group Management Report