“In order to deliver what we have promised for 2024, we will have to stretch even more than before,” says the Commerzbank boss.
(Photo: dpa)
Frankfurt Manfred Knof also benefits personally from the progress made in the restructuring of Commerzbank. For his first year as CEO, the manager received compensation of 5.7 million euros, according to the compensation report published on Monday. This includes pension expenses of 1.85 million euros.
Commerzbank returned to the black last year despite high costs for restructuring the group. In addition, the institute agreed with the employee representatives on the framework conditions for the reduction of around 10,000 full-time positions. More than 6,000 employees have already left the bank or signed an agreement to leave.
Overall, Knof exceeded the targets set for 2021 and achieved a target achievement of 119 percent, according to the remuneration report. In the internal ranking, however, the CEO is only in third place behind corporate customer boss Michael Kotzbauer (target achievement: 139 percent) and the new private customer board member Thomas Schaufler (122 percent).
Risk Director Marcus Chromik (116 percent), CFO Bettina Orlopp (113 percent) and Human Resources Manager Sabine Schmittroth (103 percent) can be found in the second half of the table. Schmittroth recently announced that she would not renew her contract, which expires at the end of the year. According to financial circles, Chromik is uncertain whether he wants to stay on board after the end of his contract, which runs until the end of 2023.
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CEO Knof benefited from two special payments last year that he had been promised as part of his move from Deutsche Bank. He received an extra contribution of one million euros for his company pension scheme. In addition, he was reimbursed variable remuneration of EUR 387,000, which he lost due to his move to Deutsche Bank.
Commerzbank had already made it clear in the 2020 annual report that it approached Knof about remuneration because he had earned more at Deutsche Bank. “The agreed remuneration takes into account the remuneration of the previous employment relationship of Dr. Manfred Knof, which was significantly higher.”
Knof: “We have to stretch even more”
The total remuneration of the Commerzbank Board of Management amounted to 14.3 million euros last year. That is a good three times as much as in the previous year, when the board did not receive any bonus payments in view of a billion-dollar loss.
However, the distance to the neighbor Deutsche Bank is still large. There, the board of directors together came to a total remuneration of 66.5 million euros, CEO Sewing to 8.8 million euros. Unlike at Commerzbank, pension expenses are not yet included.
>>Read more about this: Deutsche Bank increases bonuses – nevertheless there are fewer income millionaires
Knof emphasized that his new employer is far from having achieved his goal in implementing his strategy. “We have implemented what was to be realized at short notice,” wrote the CEO in the annual report. “In order to deliver what we have promised for 2024, we will have to stretch even further than before.”
2022 is “an important, maybe even the decisive year for our transformation”. The restructuring must continue, digitization must pick up speed and the earnings side must be strengthened – “and that in the middle of a pandemic,” explained Knof. “These are demanding tasks that will demand a lot from us.”
More: Commerzbank cuts bonus payments to ex-board members after IT disaster.