Commerzbank’s corporate business inches back to growth

After years of retrenchment, Commerzbank’s head of corporate clients Michael Kotzbauer tells Euromoney of a tentative return to growth. The bank has dodged Germany’s commercial real estate slump but is having to adapt to a worsening geopolitical backdrop. Capital and cost efficiency remain big priorities.

In the depths of the Covid-19 crisis, Michael Kotzbauer had one of the most memorable client meetings of his three-decade long career as a German corporate banker.

It was with a family-owned business in the entertainment industry, a firm that had lost about 95% of its revenues because of the pandemic. At the client’s base – a vast Frankfurt building – only two people were present: the owner and the chief executive.

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