Commerzbank profits to help bailout repayment

Commerzbank’s operating profit in the first quarter came in much higher than expected – at 1.1 billion euros.

That means Germany’s second-biggest lender will be able to repay more government bailout money.

The bank, which is 25 percent taxpayer owned, wants to pay back much of the 16.2 billion euros in state aid it received by June.

Last month, Commerzbank said it planned to raise 8.25 billion euros towards the repayment by selling a lot of new shares, which did not please its investors.

Commerzbank said it had earned net profit of 1.0 billion euros in the first three months of the year.

The lender specialises in financing Germany’s legions of medium-sized companies, which have enjoyed booming demand as the global economy recovers from the financial crisis.

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