Comdirect’s nine-month result: €72.5m before taxes

Quickborn, 02.11.2017

• Sights set on results target for 2017 as a whole of around €85m before taxes
• Growth: 189 thousand more customers and an additional €12bn assets under management
• cominvest: over €150m in customer money invested
• Next level of voice control: comdirect skill for Amazon Echo Show and comdirect Assistant app for Google Home

Quickborn, Frankfurt/Main, Germany, 2 November 2017. The comdirect group realised pre-tax profit of €72.5m in the first nine months of 2017. The previous year's high value (€106.9m) was due to the non-recurring income of around €41m before taxes resulting from the membership of VISA Europe and its integration into VISA Inc. USA. Pre-tax return on equity stands at 16.3% (previous year: 25.6%). Without the exceptional VISA effect, the nine-month pre-tax profit is 10% above the previous year. 'Given the difficult market environment, we have generated a very sound result. We have our sights firmly fixed on our 2017 pre-tax profit target of €85m, which was announced in the middle of the year,' says Arno Walter, CEO of comdirect bank AG. This corresponds to target return on equity of around 14%. Walter adds, 'We have reached a significant milestone: with the market launch of cominvest, we have created especially easy and convenient access to investing for our customers. We have brought onvista on board, and we have positioned ourselves as a pioneer for voice control in the area of financial information.'

The first German bank with voice applications for Amazon Echo and Google Home

comdirect was the first bank in Germany to bring its own Alexa skill for real-time call-up of stock exchange prices with Amazon Echo onto the market, releasing it in the middle of May. This information will be visually presented when the skill is extended in preparation for the Amazon Echo Show, which is coming soon to the German market. comdirect is the first German bank to also offer its own voice command application with visual exchange rate information for Google Assistant, Google's voice command assistant, which is currently being introduced in Germany. This can be called up by the intelligent loudspeaker Google Home or a smartphone.

High net commission income compensates for decline in net interest income

In the first nine months of the year, the comdirect group has generated total income of €277.3m (previous year: €298.0m). The main income pillar is net commission income, which at €181.8m exceeded the previous year's value (€159.9m) by 14%. The acquisition of the former onvista group also contributed to the rise. At 12.3 million, the number of B2C trades in the first nine months of 2017 was 14% above the previous year (10.8 million). In view of the persistent zero-interest environment, net interest income after provisions for possible loan losses fell 21% from €91.8m in the previous year to €72.7m. Other income stands at €22.8m. This is primarily due to a positive result from financial investments. The high levels of the market indices were used to realise share price gains in own investment. In the previous year (€46.3m), other income included the earnings from the VISA transaction.

The administrative expenses of €204.8m were 7% above the previous year's figure (€191.1m). Reasons for the increase include the rise of other administrative and personnel expenses resulting from the integration of onvista, costs for the current sales campaign for cominvest and costs related to implementing major regulatory projects.

Dynamic growth in customer numbers and assets under management

The total number of customers of the comdirect group had climbed to 3.31 million by the end of the first nine months of the year, a rise of 189 thousand. Total assets under management increased by €11.9bn to the record level of €87.60bn. The portfolio volume rose by €8.8bn to €66.09bn. €3.0bn of this came from onvista bank GmbH as of 3 April. Net fund inflows in the group totalled €5.5bn (previous year: €4.9bn), of which €3.1bn flowed into custody accounts.

The number of customers in the B2C business line (comdirect bank AG including the onvista bank division) has increased by 175 thousand to 2.26 million since the start of the year. In the same period, the number of custody accounts rose by 167 thousand to 1.17 million. Of these, 102 thousand customers and custody accounts are the result of the concluded acquisition of onvista bank GmbH as of 3 April 2017. The number of current accounts rose by 60 thousand to 1.42 million. Total assets under management climbed in the first nine months of the year by €10.0bn to €56.04bn, and the portfolio volume increased by €7.1bn to €34.84bn. €3.0bn of this came from onvista bank GmbH as of 3 April. Net fund inflows amounted to €4.9bn (previous year: €3.3bn).

According to Walter, 'The figures prove that comdirect is continuing to grow. The number of accounts, including custody accounts, as well as assets, have once more increased considerably. onvista bank has maintained its growth dynamic in spite of the merger phase. This also applies to our digital investment service cominvest: since its launch in May, customers have invested more than €150m through cominvest.' cominvest recently received the Silver Award at the internationally renowned Efma Accenture Innovation Awards. 'This demonstrates that in cominvest we have found a suitable answer to the low interest rate environment. The future of investment is digital,' says Walter.

The B2B business line (ebase GmbH) increased its customer base in the first nine months of the year to 1.05 million (year-end 2016: 1.04 million). Total assets under management rose to €31.56bn (year-end 2016: €29.75bn). Net fund inflows amounted to €0.6bn.

Overview