Germany's Commerzbank is on track to achieve the record profits it is aiming for this year after seeing its best quarterly results since the start of 2011.
"We have started the new year with a lot of momentum. The strong customer business and the very good result in the first quarter confirm our goal of increasing profits in 2024," said chief executive Manfred Knof on Wednesday.
The fact that interest rates are not falling as quickly as expected a few months ago plays into the hands of Commerzbank with its focus on small- and medium-sized entreprises (SMEs) and private customers.
However, the legal disputes over Swiss franc loans in Poland remain a burden.
In the first three months of the year, earnings before taxes of just under €1.1 billion ($1.2 billion) exceeded the level seen in the same period last year by almost a quarter, the DAX-listed group announced in Frankfurt.
The bottom line was a profit of €747 million, around 29% more than a year ago. This also exceeded analysts' expectations. The last time Commerzbank performed better in a quarter was in the first quarter of 2011, when it reported a profit of €985 million.
At just over €2.1 billion, net interest income in the first quarter was close to the record figure for the third quarter of 2023 (€2.166 billion).
The executive board raised its forecast for net interest income for the year as a whole by around €200 million to around €8.1 billion.
The figure for 2023 had increased by almost 30% to around €8.4 billion.