The judgment of the Federal Court of Justice (BGH) will lead to a provision "in the mid double-digit million range", which will be booked in the second quarter of 2021, said the CFO of the Frankfurt group, Bettina Orlopp, at a conference on Thursday.
Nevertheless, the board of directors is sticking to the forecast of increasing earnings for the year as a whole - i.e. total income - compared to the previous year, said the manager.
Orlopp is now also Vice-Head of Commerzbank: The Supervisory Board extended her contract on Wednesday by five years until June 2026 and promoted her to deputy to Manfred Knof, who has been in office since the beginning of the year.
Like the shares of other European banks, the Commerzbank share started the day with significant price gains.
The industry benefited from the fact that the US Federal Reserve had prepared the financial markets for a gradual end to the flood of money the previous evening.
The forecasts of the monetary authorities signal the interest rate turnaround for 2023. So far, the central bankers had only expected this in the following year.
Tacit consent not valid
According to Orlopps, the Commerbank share continued to increase.
Most recently, it was up more than three percent at 6.47 euros, making it the strongest stock in the M-Dax, the index of medium-sized stocks.
Since the turn of the year, Commerzbank shares have posted a price gain of around 22 percent.
At the end of April, the Karlsruhe judges decided in proceedings involving the Deutsche Bank subsidiary Postbank that banks must obtain the consent of their customers in the event of changes to general terms and conditions (GTC).
The clause according to which financial institutions can assume tacit approval if customers do not object to a change within two months, disadvantageous customers inappropriately (Ref .: XI ZR 26/20).
Many bank customers can now claim back part of the fees paid too much, according to the assessment of the Stiftung Warentest retrospectively until January 1, 2018. The Deutsche Bank had recently announced that it expected charges of 300 million euros as a result of the BGH ruling.
Germany's largest financial institution plans to set aside 100 million euros in the second quarter for possible reclaims.
In addition, Deutsche Bank assumes that the Group's earnings will be around 100 million euros lower in the second and third quarters.
Fee increase put on hold
After the ruling, Comdirect, which is part of the Commerzbank, put its plans to increase the fees on the current account on hold.
Commerzbank wants to abolish the unconditional free account for existing customers on July 1, as announced, but has to do more to do so.
Customers should now accept the new conditions in the branch or by clicking in online banking with a monthly fee of 4.90 euros.
If you don't move, the bank wants to speak to you.
It has been unclear again since Wednesday evening who will lead the Commerzbank private customer division in the future: Personnel manager Sabine Schmittroth will "focus on her role as labor director again" and hand over responsibility for the private and corporate customers segment, the bank announced.
Schmittroth had provisionally taken over the division in autumn 2020 after the then private customer boss Michael Mandel left the bank in a dispute over the future direction of the previously dense branch network. Group boss Knof decided shortly after taking office that Schmittroth should lead the private customer business on a permanent basis - now the U-turn followed. "A process to fill this board position, which is important for the long-term success of the bank, has been initiated," announced the bank on Wednesday evening.
After staff quarrels and a loss of billions in 2020, the board of directors wants to lead the bank into a more successful future. By the end of 2024, the number of full-time positions across the Group is to be cut from around 39,500 to 32,000, and the branch network in Germany will be almost halved from 790 to 450 locations. The international network is also shrinking.