Banks Commerzbank earns more than expected - higher dividend
Commerzbank has exceeded its profit target for 2025 despite high costs for the ongoing job cuts. The bank now wants to distribute billions to its shareholders through share buybacks and a higher dividend.
10.02.2026, 14:39
SDA
The Frankfurt-based DAX-listed group surprisingly announced a net profit of 2.63 billion euros for the past year on the day before the planned presentation of the balance sheet this Wednesday.
Germany's second-largest private bank had targeted a profit of around 2.5 billion euros. According to the bank, without the costs of job cuts, the surplus would even have reached a record level of 3 billion euros.
"2025 was a very successful financial year for Commerzbank, and we would like our investors to share in this success," said Commerzbank CEO Bettina Orlopp. "We are returning a total of 2.7 billion euros in capital, which is even slightly more than we had originally promised."
The dividend is to be increased significantly from 65 cents to 1.10 euros per share. The bank also intends to invest up to 540 million euros in a further buyback of its own shares.
Defensive battle against Unicredit
In 2024, Commerzbank achieved the highest profit in its history at just under 2.7 billion euros. However, there was little time to celebrate, as the takeover tussle with Unicredit brought turbulent times for the Group.
In order to fend off the attack by the major Italian bank, the Commerzbank Board of Managing Directors had set ambitious return targets and higher dividends. The bank also plans to cut around 3,900 full-time jobs by the end of 2027, 3,300 of them in Germany. The Group had estimated one-off costs of 700 million euros for this.
What is Unicredit boss Orcel planning?
There has been no movement in the struggle with Unicredit for months. The Italians are Commerzbank's largest shareholder with a good 26 percent and have access to a further three percent of the shares via financial instruments.
However, Unicredit CEO Andrea Orcel is reluctant to make a takeover bid due to the high share price - he would be obliged to do so once he reaches the 30 percent threshold. The German government, which still holds around 12 percent of Commerzbank shares, rejects a takeover and does not want to sell its shares.
In an interview with the television channel CNBC on the occasion of the presentation of Unicredit's figures, Orcel had responded to the question of a possible Commerzbank takeover the day before: "If the time is right and the conditions are right, then it will happen in the right way," said the manager. "If not, we have enough other topics that we can push ahead with."
