Commerzbank

Is Commerzbank safe?

Yes, for a German saver it is. Commerzbank held a CET1 ratioCET1 ratioA bank's highest-quality capital (mainly shares and retained profits) as a share of its risk-weighted assets. Higher means more room to absorb losses.More in the glossary of 14.4% at 30 June 2026, about four percentage points above the level at which payout restrictions would apply, and it made a record €1.8 billion of net profit in the first half of the year. Deposits are covered to €100,000 by law and well beyond that by the private banks' voluntary fund. We score it 75/100, ahead of Deutsche Bank at 71. The main deduction is history: Commerzbank is the large German bank that needed the state in 2009.

Two layers of German deposit protection

Commerzbank AG and its online brand comdirect are one legal entity. The statutory scheme, the Entschädigungseinrichtung deutscher Banken (EdB), covers €100,000 per person. On top, Commerzbank belongs to the Einlagensicherungsfonds of the Association of German Banks. Since January 2025 that fund covers up to €3 million per private customer, and the cap falls to €1 million from 2030. The voluntary cover gives no legal claim, but the fund has paid customers of failed private banks in the past.

Commerzbank is not on the global list of systemically important banks. The ECB and BaFin treat it as systemically important in Germany, which brings a 1.25% extra capital buffer. Its Polish subsidiary mBank is a separate bank under Poland's own guarantee fund.

Capital and liquidity after the turnaround

Measure	Figure	Date
CET1 ratioCET1 ratioA bank's highest-quality capital (mainly shares and retained profits) as a share of its risk-weighted assets. Higher means more room to absorb losses.More in the glossary	14.4%	30 June 2026
MDA thresholdMDA thresholdThe capital level below which a bank must limit dividends, bonuses and some bond payments. The gap above it shows how much room the bank has.More in the glossary	about 10.3%	30 June 2026
Buffer above MDA	409 basis points	30 June 2026
Liquidity coverage ratioLiquidity coverage ratioA bank's cash and easy-to-sell assets compared with the money that could flow out in a 30-day crisis. It must be at least 100%.More in the glossary	142.7% (12-month average)	31 March 2026
Net stable funding ratioNet stable funding ratioA bank's stable funding, such as capital and retail deposits, compared with the stable funding its assets need over one year. It must be at least 100%.More in the glossary	122.2%	31 March 2026

The ECB cut its Pillar 2 requirement for 2026, a sign supervisors are comfortable with the bank. Commerzbank plans to hand back 100% of its 2026 net result to shareholders through buybacks and dividends, which keeps the CET1 ratio near 14% rather than building it higher. S&P rates it A; in July 2026 it lowered the outlook from positive to stable, citing integration risks from a possible combination with UniCredit.

The 2009 rescue and what remains of it

Commerzbank agreed to buy Dresdner Bank in August 2008, weeks before Lehman Brothers collapsed. Losses at Dresdner and on its own property and shipping loans left it needing €18.2 billion of capital from Germany's bank rescue fund SoFFin, and the state took a 25% stake plus one share. The silent participations were repaid by 2013 after several share issues, but the German state is still a shareholder today. Profits stayed thin for most of the 2010s, and a long restructuring cut thousands of jobs and hundreds of branches before profits recovered from 2023.

UniCredit's takeover bid

UniCredit built a large stake from 2024 and launched a formal takeover offer in 2026. Commerzbank's management and supervisory board rejected it as lacking a fair premium. By the end of the acceptance period on 3 July 2026, 17.6% of shares had been tendered; Commerzbank says most came from banks linked to UniCredit and that independent investors tendered less than 2%. UniCredit says this took its position, including derivatives, to 47.59%. Taking control still needs ECB approval, and the EU competition decision is due by 16 November 2026.

For a depositor this changes little. Your money stays with Commerzbank AG and its protection stays the same. If the bank were ever merged into UniCredit's German arm, HypoVereinsbank, balances at both would then count toward a single limit.

Fines in the last decade

Commerzbank's record is lighter than its larger rival's. The biggest case came just over ten years ago: in March 2015 it paid US authorities $1.71 billion in total over sanctions and money-laundering breaches, including a $200 million Federal Reserve penalty. In June 2020 the UK Financial Conduct Authority fined its London branch £37.8 million for weak anti-money-launderingAnti-money launderingThe rules and checks that stop criminals from moving illegal money through banks, payment firms and crypto exchanges.More in the glossary controls between 2012 and 2017.

Practical tips for Commerzbank customers

1. Count Commerzbank and comdirect balances together. Above €100,000 you rely on the voluntary fund, which is strong but not a legal right.
2. If you also bank with HypoVereinsbank, track whether the two banks merge; until then each has its own limits.
3. Securities in a comdirect or Commerzbank depot are held for you and are not lost if the bank fails. Cash in the settlement account is a deposit.
4. Approve payments only in the photoTAN app, and never read out or confirm a TAN to someone who phones you.

How we scored it

Deposit protectionDeposit insuranceA government-backed scheme that repays bank customers up to a set limit if their bank fails, such as the FDIC in the US or the FSCS in the UK.More in the glossary (88), liquidity (84) and capital (79) are the strongest factors. Stability history (42) is by far the weakest because of the 2009 state rescue. For other euro-area banks, see UniCredit and ING.