Commerzbank expects to fully write off existing goodwill of around €1.5bn and a negative risk result of at least €1.7bn

● Manfred Knof: “After this balance sheet clean-up, we are well prepared for the road ahead of us. Our goal is to make the bank more profitable in the long-term”

● Bettina Orlopp: “By increasing our risk result we are responding to the ongoing Corona pandemic and feel well prepared for further developments this year”

Commerzbank expects the existing goodwill of around €1,5 billion to be fully written-off due to among others deteriorating market parameters, in particular the level of interest rates in the euro area and in Poland. The changed market parameters that led to the goodwill write-off will also have a negative impact on the valuation of the deferred tax assets.

The required write-off of goodwill has no impact on the capital ratio, which the Bank continues to expect at around 13% at the end of 2020.

Manfred Knof, CEO of Commerzbank, stated: "After this balance sheet clean-up, we are well prepared for the road ahead of us. Our goal is to make the bank more profitable in the long term.”

For the financial year 2020, the bank also expects a risk result of at least minus €1.7 billion. This already includes a top-level adjustment of around €500 million for expected Corona-related effects in 2021. With the higher risk result the bank also anticipates the currently expected impact of the second lockdown.

"By increasing our risk result we are responding to the ongoing Corona pandemic and feel well prepared for further developments this year," said Bettina Orlopp.

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