Manfred Knof cannot complain about a lack of advance praise.

The Commerzbank share price is doing well, at least compared to its European competitors.

Knof can cite this as proof that his restructuring of the bank, which began in 2021, is working.

But the good price development also increases the fall height for Knof.

Because risks are lurking, especially at the Polish subsidiary M-Bank, which was able to increase its net interest income in the first quarter by a whopping 86 percent compared to the same period last year.

It is now clear: In the current third quarter, M-Bank will initially burden the result with 210 to 290 million euros.

Borrowers, as politicians have decided in a consumer-friendly manner, can defer repayments - up to eight times until the end of 2023. And that's not all:

Politicians could erase many of the earnings that Commerzbank can also generate because real estate loans in Poland have variable interest rates and the base rate is already 6.5 percent.

Not to mention the legal tug-of-war over Swiss franc loans to Polish home builders – Commerzbank has already made provisions of 900 million euros for this alone, just a little less than the expected consolidated profit for the full year.

The M-Bank is a blessing for Knof – and a curse at the same time.