After four years, the still partially nationalized Commerzbank wants to give shareholders a dividend again. A good third of the profit is to be paid as a dividend. In addition, there is a plan to buy back shares. The WZB and the federal government still have to agree.
Commerzbank wants to pay a dividend for the first time in four years. The bank announced in Frankfurt that a dividend of 20 cents per share would be proposed for the past year. In addition, the Management Board also intends to return money to shareholders through a share buyback program. In total, 30 percent of the profit is to be distributed.
However, the share buyback still has to be approved by the European Central Bank (ECB) as the supervisory authority and by the Federal Finance Agency. This holds the state share in the bank.
At the end of January, Commerzbank announced that it had generated an operating profit of almost 3.4 billion euros in 2022. It thus fulfills the formal requirements for a return to the leading index Dax. The bottom line was that the board of directors around CEO Manfred Knof had targeted a surplus of more than one billion euros for 2022. Analysts expect an average of around 1.4 billion euros. That would be more than three times as much as a year earlier. She wants to present the entire set of figures tomorrow, Thursday.
In view of the recent good business development, the Management Board had given the shareholders hope for a dividend. It would be the third profit distribution from the partially nationalized institute since the state rescued the institute with billions in taxes during the 2008/2009 financial crisis.
