Commerzbank loses €9bn of deposits as savers are courted again
On 5 November Commerzbank reported its best nine-month result, a €2.67bn profit, but cut its net interest income forecast because customers are withdrawing deposits.
Record profits and shrinking deposits at the same time: €9bn of customer money has left Commerzbank since January, prompting the bank to cut its interest forecast. Meanwhile its job cuts through early retirement and severance agreements are moving faster than planned.
What happened
Commerzbank earned €859m in the third quarter, 45% more than a year earlier; after nine months the total is €2.669bn. But its main source of income is wobbling. The bank now expects 2026 net interest income of about €8.5bn rather than €8.6bn. Carsten Schmitt, the finance chief, blamed markedly fiercer competition for deposits, according to Börsen-Zeitung: €3bn left in the third quarter and €9bn since the start of the year. As rates rise, attractive overnight-deposit offers are back and new providers are entering the market. Commerzbank will not match a 4% offer such as JP Morgan made in May. The workforce is shrinking in parallel: about 1,800 employees have signed agreements for an orderly exit and more than 1,100 are taking up the new early-retirement scheme. At the end of September the bank had 40,390 full-time positions, 25,091 of them in Germany. In May it announced a further 3,000 job cuts by 2030 and named AI as a key lever.
What follows
For savers this is good news: when big banks lose deposits, the pressure to raise overnight rates grows. For the bank it means record interest income will be harder to sustain, and its quarterly cost-income ratio of 52% becomes more important. Then there is the takeover by UniCredit. The ECB approved control on 15 October; Commerzbank expects the remaining approvals in the fourth quarter or early 2027 at the latest. Bettina Orlopp, the chief executive, did not rule out further cuts linked to synergies, according to Börsen-Zeitung. Assessment: deposit competition is a signal for the whole sector, not just for Commerzbank.
What changes in practice
- Savers
- Banks are competing for deposits again. Shopping around yields higher overnight rates than at one's own bank.
- Employees
- About 1,800 exit agreements and over 1,100 early-retirement take-ups; further cuts are possible under UniCredit.
- Corporate clients
- The UniCredit takeover is drawing closer; contacts and structures may change in 2027.
What to watch
- Overnight-deposit rates at the big branch banks before year-end
- Deposit flows in the fourth quarter and the interest forecast for 2027
- The date of an extraordinary shareholders' meeting on the UniCredit takeover
Sources
- Commerzbank: Bestes Neunmonatsergebnis der Konzerngeschichte, 5.11.2026
- Börsen-Zeitung: Commerzbank leidet unter Einlagenwettbewerb, 5.11.2026
- cash.ch (AWP): Commerzbank mit Rekordgewinn in die Arme der Italiener, 5.11.2026