Commerzbank said on Thursday that its net result rose 45% to €859m in the third quarter, from €591m a year earlier. Over the first nine months the bank earned €2,669m, up 41%, and its operating result of €4,037m was the best nine-month result in the bank's history.
"With our record result, we have once again proven our ability to deliver," said Bettina Orlopp, the chief executive. The bank confirmed its net result target of at least €3.4bn for the full year 2026.
REVENUES RISE 9%
Third-quarter revenues rose 9% to €3,199m. Net commission income grew 9% to €1,072m, driven mainly by securities business with private and small-business customers in Germany, while net interest income rose by more than 3% to €2,115m.
Total costs were unchanged at €1,677m and the cost-income ratio including compulsory contributions improved to around 52% from 57%. In Poland, mBank lifted revenues 15% to €701m as provisions for foreign-currency loan legal risks fell to €18m from €107m.
The risk result was minus €210m, against minus €215m a year earlier, and the non-performing exposure ratio edged up to 1.2%. The CET1 ratio stood at 14.2% at 30 September, down from 14.4% at the end of June, leaving a buffer of 370 basis points over the MDA threshold of around 10.5%.
A TAKEOVER IN PROGRESS
The results come as UniCredit moves toward a takeover. According to the news site Bluewin, the Italian bank has secured access to just under half of Commerzbank's shares and is effectively already its controlling shareholder; the German federal government holds just over 13% and wants the bank to keep financing small and medium-sized enterprises.
The European Central Bank allowed UniCredit on 15 October 2026 to raise its stake beyond the previous regulatory threshold, and Commerzbank expects the remaining approvals in the fourth quarter or by early 2027 at the latest. "We are convinced that together with UniCredit, we can create value by consistently leveraging the strengths of both banks," Ms Orlopp said.
Commerzbank announced 3,900 full-time job cuts in February 2025 and about 3,000 more group-wide by 2030 in May 2026. Its home market is far less concentrated than Italy or Spain: the five largest German credit institutions held only 35.4% of sector assets in 2025, against 51.2% in Italy and 67.4% in Spain.
DEPOSIT COMPETITION TRIMS THE OUTLOOK
The bank lowered its net interest income expectation to around €8.5bn from around €8.6bn, citing increased competition for deposits. It has completed around 70% of a share buyback of up to €1.2bn launched in early September and is targeting a capital return of around €3.2bn for 2026.
THE TGB VIEW
Commerzbank ranks 23rd among the Largest banks in Europe 2026 in the TGB Bank Rankings, with US$693.4bn of total assets and a 7.8% return on equity at the end of 2025, while UniCredit ranks 14th with US$1,022.5bn and a 16.1% return on equity. Its own measure of profitability, net return on tangible equity, reached 12.4% after nine months, up from 8.2% a year earlier and above its full-year target of around 12%. The next test is the full-year results on 11 February 2027, against the target of at least €3.4bn.
Related: BaFin fined Nomura €320,000 over delayed Commerzbank voting-rights disclosures in Germany
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