A great success: Commerzbank received three awards this year at the GlobalCapital Awards 2022. The awards won were in the following categories:

• Best Arranger of Mid Cap Loans
• Best Arranger of German, Swiss and Austrian Loans
• Best Arranger of International Schuldscheine

In a year that was characterised by many uncertainties, a strong and resilient partnership with our customers is particularly important. This is underscored by our positioning role in our core markets. We have now held the top position in financing Mid-cap companies for the ninth consecutive year. "Our strong customer orientation defines our strategy, which is why we are particularly pleased to receive these recognitions in our core markets and product areas," affirmed Reinhard Haas, Global Head - Syndicated Finance.

Commerzbank has been awarded Best Trade Finance Provider in Germany for the fourth consecutive year, as Global Finance announced the results of its annual industry-wide survey.

The Trade Finance & Supply Chain Finance Awards 2023, which are based on data gathered from banks, analysts, corporates and other industry players, were presented at the BAFT Europe Bank to Bank Forum in London on 25th January.

Commenting on the news, Head of Trade Finance Jörg Motel said: “We’re delighted to have been recognised with this award once again. Commerzbank’s consistent performance in Global Finance’s industry benchmarking process demonstrates our ongoing commitment to our clients, and we’re proud to be the partner of choice for German exporters.”

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Commerzbank is Western Europe’s market leader in the use of technology in trade finance, according to Euromoney’s latest annual survey.

In the 2023 edition of Euromoney’s Trade Finance survey, which assesses responses from thousands of trade finance users to rank providers across a range of categories and geographies, Commerzbank placed first in the regional ‘Market Leader – Technology’ category. “This excellent result confirms that our efforts in the digital transformation journey of trade finance are being recognised by both clients and the wider industry,” commented Jörg Motel, Commerzbank’s Head of Trade Finance.

The survey – one of the most comprehensive in this space – recognises the leading providers of trade finance products and services worldwide, and is considered a key benchmark for the industry.

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Commerzbank has been awarded ‘Best Bank in Germany’ for the fifth consecutive year by The Banker magazine. The publication is one of the world’s leading monthly journals for the banking industry. A rigorous and highly analytical process is required to reach each Bank of the Year decision. The publication aims for the awards to highlight industry wide excellence within the global banking community.

The Banker commented: “Two major trends could be gleaned from the submissions. First, digital transformation is accelerating in every region and continent, with all banks refining their plans. The second trend is the embedding of sustainability in financial services.”

These trends are part of Commerzbank’s Strategy 2024 and the publication highlighted our numerous digitalisation collaborations as well as our targets for reducing the Bank’s Co2 balance sheet for its entire credit and investment portfolio to net zero by 2050.

For the third consecutive year, the editors of "Global Finance" named Commerzbank Germany's best provider of trade finance services by evaluating industry analysts and interviewing corporate executives and technology experts. Global Finance uses a proprietary algorithm that weights criteria such as knowledge of local conditions and customer needs, financial strength and safety, strategic relationships and governance, competitive pricing, capital investment and innovation in products and services according to relative importance. Each entity is rated on each separate criterion. The result: Commerzbank best meets the specific needs of companies in cross-border trade.

2022, the prestigious trade journal Global Finance awarded the best sub-custodian banks worldwide for the 20th time - and for the fifth time, Commerzbank took first place in Germany. The associated recognition is in particular for its great commitment to managing the increased diversity and complexity of financial instruments in order to provide world-class custody services. With its profound market knowledge, Commerzbank is the anchor of the investment value chain. In addition to providing a broad range of comprehensive transaction settlement and custody services, it provides offerings that implement operational efficiencies and apply technological resources. Furthermore, it serves as a trusted advocate, helping clients navigate the ever-changing regulatory landscape.

Global Finance has announced its selections for the second annual Sustainable Finance Awards for 2022 (Global Finance, July/August edition 2022). This awards programme recognises global, regional and local leadership in Sustainable Finance – funding for initiatives designed to mitigate the negative impacts of climate change and help build a more sustainable future for humanity.

Honourees have been chosen in areas such as overall sustainability financing, excellence in bond issues, community support, resource management, transparency & reporting, infrastructure and emerging-markets sustainability funding. This awards programme focuses on activities from January 2021 to December 2021. Joseph Giarraputo, Global Finance publisher and editorial director: “Global Finance’s Sustainable Finance awards recognise the financial institutions that stand out for their efforts to ensure adequate financing for the full range of initiatives that will ultimately be needed, and their creativity in addressing these long-range issues.”

Every year, FINANCE magazine conducts a survey to determine the best bank for corporate clients. This year, the 182 participating CFOs, heads of finance and treasurers were asked to assess their banking relationship against the backdrop of the Ukraine war.

Despite tough restructuring measures, Commerzbank regained its position at the top of the corporate client banks after just one year, taking first place in the overall ranking of Germany’s leading corporate client banks.

What is more, it also came first in the individual categories of “Mittelstand” sector, principal banks, cash management, lending, digitalisation in corporate banking, trade and export financing (FINANCE, July/August 2022 issue).

The Euromoney Foreign Exchange Survey is one of the most comprehensive annual studies available on the foreign exchange markets. The Euromoney FX Survey 2022 was Euromoney's 44nd annual survey of liquidity consumption in the global foreign exchange markets. In terms of total volume in the FX market, Commerzbank is ranked eighth as one of the world’s largest providers. One of the main drivers are FX-Swaps. Commerzbank improved from 23th place in 2021 to 3rd place in 2022 in the category Market Share - (inc. Short-Dated). Overall the market share of Commerzbank in FX-swaps is 7.53% according to the survey.

The improved market share is a result of the successful combination of our IT expertise with the specifics of trading OTC products aiming to digitize FX Swaps & Forwards. Clients benefit from a wide range of auto-executable FX products at competitive prices due to the enhanced internalization of flow.

We are proud to announce that we have been awarded the Cross Border Deal of the Year ($100MM - $1B) at the 13 th Annual International M&A Awards. The award was published by the M&A Advisor on the sale of Bayer’s drug product site and operations to WuXi Biologic, where our Mergers & Acquisitions team acted as exclusive M&A advisor to Bayer. “This award rewards not only our in-depth knowledge of the international pharma sector, but also our execellent ability to advise large corporates on divesting non-core assets-”, said Jens Krane, Head of Mergers & Acquisitions.

In May 2022, Commerzbank was named the Most Active Confirming Bank for 2021 as part of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development’s (EBRD) annual Trade Facilitation Programme (TFP) awards. The EBRD Trade Facilitation Programme (TFP) honoured its most successful partner banks 2021 in the context of the Bank’s 2022 Annual Meeting in Morocco.

With a record annual volume of more than €3.2 billion in 2021, the TFP supported international trade via almost 2,000 transactions. The TFP makes it easier for local companies to import equipment, raw materials and other goods necessary for their business by supporting local banks in their provision of trade finance.

The TFP Awards honour the most active issuing and confirming banks during the past year in delivering EBRD financing across its countries of operations. Launched in 1999, the TFP aims to promote foreign trade to, from and between the countries in which the EBRD invests. Through the programme, the EBRD provides guarantees to international confirming banks and short-term loans to selected banks and factoring companies for on-lending to local exporters, importers and distributors.

Blockchain has been one of the most significant emerging technologies in recent years, with use cases now being explored across the financial services sector. This FStech award for Blockchain Project of the Year looked to recognise an initiative or project that is utilising distributed ledger technology to increase the speed, efficiency, accuracy, security or cost-effectiveness of processes in any area of the financial services industry.

Commerzbank provides a solution which handles trade data in a Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) network to provide an irrevocable abstract payment undertaking by the buyer’s bank to the supplier called Marco-Polo-Payment-Commitment. Manual checking of paper documents is replaced by means of a smart contract with automatic matching of electronic trade data. The data is extracted from a trade contract and trade documents, securely exchanged, agreed and matched in the blockchain environment between all relevant parties of the trade transaction.

For this game-changing solution, which helps to mitigate the potential issues for all parties involved in trade settlement and “increases the speed and transparency of trade finance and shows how blockchain can really support suppliers”, the judges chose to award Commerzbank Blockchain Project of the Year. They commended Commerzbank for a solution which requires no prior knowledge of blockchain technology and democratises its adoption, as all that is needed for corporates to access the network is an internet browser.

“This award is a great confirmation for our pioneering work in using blockchain technology for trade finance”, confirms Nikolaus Giesbert, Divisional Board Member Transaction Banking.

For 2021, Commerzbank has again been awarded the title of "Best Arranger of Mid Cap Loans" at the GlobalCapital Awards. The fact that we have now received this award for the 8th time in a row is once again proof that our footprint is recognised and appreciated, particularly in the mid-market, both in Germany and in the European context. In 2021, we also provided our mid cap clients with advice and support on the topic of ESG compliance, which was well received and underlines our claim to make an active contribution in this area as well. Currently, many of our clients have to deal with the geopolitical situation in Europe and the consequences for energy supply and the maintenance of supply chains. Our advice and active support as the corporate financier will therefore continue to be in high demand from our clients," confirmed Reinhard Haas, Global Head - Syndicated Finance.

Commerzbank has been awarded ‘Best Bank in Germany’ for the fourth year in a row by The Banker magazine. The publication is one of the world’s leading monthly journals for the banking industry.

Given travel and social distancing constraints imposed this year by pandemic, the awards were announced virtually with Commerzbank receiving the coveted ‘Best Bank in Germany’ award for the fourth year in a row. This year, the judges have continued to focus on resilience and service to customers in the face of the global pandemic but with emphasis on digital transformation and sustainable growth. The winning banks this year have truly demonstrated a level of stability that is testament to their organisational strength.

The Banker commented “In these difficult circumstances, Commerzbank performed admirably to offer support to the wider economy, as well as its customers and staff. Notably, the lender created a dedicated Mittelstand loan facility of €700m to support corporates with pandemic-linked funding requirements.”

A rigorous and highly analytical process is required to reach each Bank of the Year decision. The publication aims for the awards to highlight industry wide excellence within the global banking community.

The Best German Commercial Paper (CP) Dealer Award is given to institutions, which are active in the international money and capital markets, with international ECP (Euro Commercial Paper) and ECD. It recognises the ability to offer the best comprehensive service for all types of issuers and investors.

Commerzbank is one of the leading banks in Germany. Headquartered in Frankfurt, it has a presence in nearly 50 countries worldwide and provides more than one third of Germany's trade finance. The bank is known renowned for its strong relationships with corporate clients.

2020 was a challenging year for all sectors of the money and capital markets. However, Commerzbank's ECP desk in Frankfurt delivered strong results, despite the market conditions. The bank provided liquidity to the market by bringing together ECP issuers and investors. In addition, Commerzbank continued to expand its international ECP business by winning a number of new mandates and selling them to international capital market investors.

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Commerzbank scoops global and country trade finance awards from Global Finance.

Commerzbank has been awarded ‘Best Bank in Germany’ for the third year in a row by The Banker magazine. The publication is one of the world’s leading monthly journals for the banking industry.

In light of coronavirus, the awards were announced virtually with Commerzbank receiving the coveted ‘Best Bank in Germany’ award for the third year in a row. Given the unique challenges that this year has presented, the judges focused very heavily on the contribution made by institutions in dealing with the struggles of their clients and managing their businesses. There was significant emphasis on the resilience shown by banks and the pivotal role they play in society.

The Banker commented: “Commerzbank’s long run of success in the Bank of the Year Awards owes much to its ability to continuously evolve its product and service offerings to meet its customers’ needs. The 2020 awards are no exception. The German lender has once again demonstrated its commitment to cutting edge customer-centric innovation.”

A rigorous and highly analytical process is required to reach each Bank of the Year decision. The publication aims for the awards to highlight industry wide excellence within the global banking community.

In this year's Institutional Investor (formerly Extel) survey of equity professionals in Europe and the United States, Commerzbank has confirmed its top position in German equity research, sales and corporate access. This follows on from the Bank’s Top 1 and 2 rankings in the Extel category ‘Germany - Leading Brokerage Firm’ of the past 10 years.

With regard to research sectors with a German-related focus, Commerzbank leads in ‘Financials’, ‘Industrials’ and ‘Information Technology’, and comes second in ‘Consumer Discretionary’,' ‘Materials’ and ‘Small & Mid Cap Stocks’. Commerzbank is also ranked first and second, respectively, in the European categories, ‘Equity Technical Analysis & Charting’ and ‘Index Analysis’.

In a recent survey conducted among around 1,000 CFOs and treasurers, FINANCE magazine, one of the leading financial magazines in germany, set out to determine the best corporate client bank. As in last year’s survey, Commerzbank came out top, even increasing its lead over the competition.

Commerzbank further expanded its leading edge in trade and export financing, which is important to small and medium-sized enterprises, and was the top bank in this category (36%). No other bank surpassed Commerzbank in the “Best lending/Traditional financing” category, where it was the clear leader for just under 28% of corporate clients. The corporate clients surveyed responded particularly positively to the question of which bank has the strongest foothold in the SME segment: as in last year’s survey, Commerzbank earned the highest number of votes (65%). The question of which bank is the most popular principal bank delivered convincing results: 76% of companies count Commerzbank among their principal banks. The Bank’s leading positions in key categories included a further area: digitalisation. Commerzbank’s digitalisation strategy was rated “very good” by 28% of respondents.

The Euromoney Foreign Exchange Survey is one of the most comprehensive annual studies available on the foreign exchange markets. The Euromoney FX Survey 2020 was Euromoney's 42nd annual survey of liquidity consumption in the global foreign exchange markets. Commerzbank improved from 5th place in 2019 to 1st place in 2020 in the category Global Best Services - Service.