DGAP-News

comdirect bank AG: very strong pre-tax profit of EUR76.2m for the first nine months of the year

DGAP-News: comdirect bank AG / Key word(s): 9-month figures/Quarter
Results
comdirect bank AG: very strong pre-tax profit of EUR76.2m for the
first nine months of the year

22.10.2015 / 07:30

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comdirect: very strong pre-tax profit of EUR76.2m for the first nine months
of the year

- Record earnings: EUR283m in the first nine months

- Trading activity at peak level: 11 million B2C trades

- Dynamic growth in current and custody accounts

- High B2C net fund inflow of EUR2.8bn

- Profit target for the full-year 2015 increased to more than EUR85m
before tax

- First bank with an entirely digital account-opening and
account-switching process

Quickborn, 22 October 2015. The comdirect group realised a pre-tax profit
of EUR76.2m in the first nine months of 2015, which was a 17% increase on
the high level achieved in the previous year (EUR64.9m). "This is a very
strong result with top figures for earnings, trades and customer numbers -
and no sign of a summer low," says Arno Walter, CEO of comdirect bank AG.
"On this basis, we have increased our profit target to in excess of EUR85m
before tax."

The comdirect group generated total income of EUR282.9m in the first nine
months of the year. This represents growth of 8% on the previous year's
record figure (EUR261.4m). The reason for this further increase was the
number of trades with B2C customers, which were up 38% on the previous year
at 11 million transactions (previous year: 8.0 million). "Our customers
executed an unprecedented volume of trades. In the first nine months of the
year, we handled almost as many trades as in the entire previous year,
which was a particularly good trading year," says Walter. "As the market
leader for online brokerage with products and services for traders and
investors which have once again been enhanced, we benefited very strongly
from the volatile stock market environment." Net commission income thus
rose sharply, by 23% to EUR174.8m (previous year: EUR142.5m) and reached
the highest nine-month value in the bank's history. With market interest
rates which remain extremely low, net interest income after provisions for
possible loan losses was down 7% year-on-year at EUR101.8m (EUR109.2m). The
moderate (5%) increase in administrative expenses to EUR206.7m (previous
year: EUR196.4m) was mainly prompted by the bank's strong growth.

In the B2C business line (comdirect bank AG), total assets under custody
increased to EUR37.01bn in the first nine months of the year (end of 2014:
EUR34.75bn) - despite an exclusively price-related decrease in the third
quarter. This increase reflected particularly high net fund inflows