Commerzbank AG / Miscellaneous
12.03.2015 17:46
Dissemination of a Regulatory Announcement, transmitted by
DGAP - a service of EQS Group AG.
The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
- Settlements regarding sanctions and money laundering (AML) total USD
1,452 m (EUR 1,196 m)
- Additional one-time charge of EUR 338 m in Q4 2014
Commerzbank has reached settlements with the Department of Justice ('DoJ'),
the Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control, the New York
County District Attorney's Office, the Board of Governors of the Federal
Reserve ('the Federal Reserve') and New York's Department of Financial
Services ('NYDFS') regarding U.S. sanctions and New York State business
records violations that occurred between 2002 and 2008.
The Bank has also reached settlements with the DoJ, the Federal Reserve and
the NYDFS regarding violations arising from its failure between 2008 and
2013 to maintain adequate policies, procedures and practices for detecting
and reporting potential money laundering activities.
Commerzbank built adequate reserves as discussions with the authorities
progressed. On 12 February 2015, the Bank announced that a further
increase in legal provisions was possible and could be reflected in the
final annual financial statements for 2014. Further to the amount already
reserved, the Bank will book an additional one-off charge of EUR 338
million in Q4 2014 for these settlements, to be reflected in the final
annual financial statements for 2014.
The Bank's net result and operating result for 2014 will be adjusted to EUR
264 million (preliminarily reported net result EUR 602 million) and EUR 684
million (preliminarily reported operating result EUR 1,022 million),
respectively. Under the full application of Basel 3, Commerzbank's Common
Equity Tier 1 ratio (CET 1) stands at 9.3% as of the end of 2014, up from
9.0% at the end of December 2013. The final net result of EUR 282 million
in the individual financial statements of Commerzbank AG pursuant to the
German Commercial Code (HGB) for 2014 also takes into account the
settlements with the US authorities.
Commerzbank has been cooperating with U.S. and New York authorities for a
number of years, making available extensive documentation as well as the
results of various internal investigations that the Bank commissioned. The
Bank has also tolled the statute of limitations during these lengthy
investigations.
Over the past several years, the Bank has improved its compliance function
and has implemented remedial steps to address the conduct underlying these
enforcement actions. Since 2013, the Bank has also made changes in senior
compliance personnel and plans to more than double US-based compliance
staff by 2016. Efforts are underway to continue the introduction of more
comprehensive global compliance policies around the world.
Martin Blessing, CEO at Commerzbank AG, said: 'We take these violations
very seriously and deeply regret the actions that led to today's
announcements. Today's settlement concludes a long and arduous process for
all involved. Our focus now is on addressing the underlying issues and
maintaining the trust of all of our stakeholders - our clients, our
shareholders, our regulators and our employees. We have made, and will
continue to make, changes to our systems, training and personnel to address
the deficiencies identified by U.S. and New York authorities. The U.S.
dollar business remains a central component of our product suite to
companies and financial institutions worldwide. As an international bank,
we have a keen interest in maintaining the highest industry standards
everywhere we do business.'
*****
Press contact
Margarita Thiel +49 172 7065233
Duncan King +1 917 5707616
Simon Steiner +49 69 136-46646
*****
About Commerzbank
Commerzbank is a leading international commercial bank with branches and
offices in more than 50 countries. The core markets of Commerzbank are
Germany and Poland. With the business areas Private Customers,
Mittelstandsbank, Corporates & Markets and Central & Eastern Europe, its
private customers and corporate clients, as well as institutional
investors, profit from a comprehensive portfolio of banking and capital
market services. Commerzbank finances more than 30 per cent of Germany's
foreign trade and is the unchallenged leader in financing for SMEs. With
its subsidiaries comdirect and Poland's mBank it owns two of the world's
most innovative online banks. With approximately 1,100 branches and
approximately 90 advisory centres for business customers Commerzbank has
one of the densest branch networks among German private banks. In total,
Commerzbank boasts approximately 15 million private customers, as well as 1
million business and corporate clients. The Bank, which was founded in
1870, is represented at all the world's major stock exchanges. In 2014, it
generated gross revenues of almost EUR 9 billion with an average of
approximately 52,000 employees.
*****
Disclaimer
This release contains forward-looking statements. Forward-looking
statements are statements that are not historical facts. In this release,
these statements concern inter alia the expected future business of
Commerzbank, efficiency gains and expected synergies, expected growth
prospects and other opportunities for an increase in value of Commerzbank
as well as expected future financial results, restructuring costs and other
financial developments and information. These forward-looking statements
are based on the management's current plans, expectations, estimates and
projections. They are subject to a number of assumptions and involve known
and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause actual
results and developments to differ materially from any future results and
developments expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Such
factors include the conditions in the financial markets in Germany, in
Europe, in the USA and other regions from which Commerzbank derives a
substantial portion of its revenues and in which Commerzbank holds a
substantial portion of its assets, the development of asset prices and
market volatility, especially due to the ongoing European debt crisis,
potential defaults of borrowers or trading counterparties, the
implementation of its strategic initiatives to improve its business model,
particularly to reduce its NCA portfolio, the reliability of its risk
management policies, procedures and methods, risks arising as a result of
regulatory change and other risks. Forward-looking statements therefore
speak only as of the date they are made. Commerzbank has no obligation to
update or release any revisions to the forward-looking statements contained
in this release to reflect events or circumstances after the date of this
release.
Contact:
Commerzbank AG
Group Communications
Tel.: +49 69 136 - 22830
mediarelations@commerzbank.com
12.03.2015 The DGAP Distribution Services include Regulatory Announcements,
Financial/Corporate News and Press Releases.
Media archive at www.dgap-medientreff.de and www.dgap.de
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Language: English
Company: Commerzbank AG
Kaiserplatz
60311 Frankfurt am Main
Germany
Phone: +49 (069) 136 20
Fax: -
E-mail: ir@commerzbank.com
Internet: www.commerzbank.de
ISIN: DE000CBK1001
Indices: DAX, CDAX, HDAX, PRIMEALL
Listed: Regulated Market in Berlin, Dusseldorf, Frankfurt
(Prime Standard), Hamburg, Hanover, Munich, Stuttgart;
Terminbörse EUREX; London, SIX
Category Code: MSC
TIDM: CZB
Sequence Number: 2559
Time of Receipt: March 12, 2015 17:43:57
End of Announcement DGAP News-Service
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
DGAP-Regulatory: Commerzbank Announces Agreements with U.S. Authorities Regarding Sanctions and Money Laundering Violations
| Source: EQS Group AG