It almost sounded as if Commerzbank boss Manfred Knof was happy about the high losses of his Polish subsidiary M-Bank.

Because without this problem child, who is struggling with Swiss franc loans, Commerzbank would have earned more in the third quarter of 2022 than it has in ten years.

However, such a good result does not fit the mood in Germany, Knof remarked and added, perhaps to those who have the word "crisis winner" on the tip of their tongues: The situation is still better than the mood.

In fact, Commerzbank is currently benefiting enormously from the higher interest rates of the European Central Bank in its lending business.

Thanks to the higher lending rates it charges borrowers, Commerzbank can set more ambitious medium-term earnings targets.

The savers, on the other hand, are still kept for a short time by the bank, and the higher interest rates are hardly passed on to deposits.

The result is an outstanding increase in the Commerzbank Group's net interest income by a good 40 percent.

The problem child M-Bank, which is benefiting greatly from the early turnaround in interest rates in Poland, is also contributing to this.

Steep yield curve instead of loan defaults

On the other hand, Commerzbank has hardly had to make provisions for loans at risk of default.

But that's what the auditors would urge if the risk of default increased in Germany's most important medium-sized financier.

There is no sign of that yet, after all the German economy is still growing despite the mood of crisis.

Nevertheless, Commerzbank is not a winner of the crisis, because if Germany should slide into a recession in the next few months, the possible wave of insolvencies of borrowers will probably not hit the banks until 2024.

Until then, credit institutions can earn decent money in the interest business with the surplus from low-interest deposits and higher-interest loans.

This is the normal case, which has become the exception in recent years due to the low interest rate policy of the central banks.

Savers, however, should press their bank for higher interest rates on their deposits and give the competition a boost by asking about overnight and fixed-term deposits.

There is scope for higher interest rates not only on the credit side, but also on the deposit side.