Dalman stays at Commerz as results fall

Dalman’s position has come under scrutiny due to Commerz’s failure to successfully integrate its corporate and investment banking units and emulate the performance improvements seen at rival banks this year.

Commerz’s Securities group -- incorporating FX, mergers and acquisitions, equities, bonds and derivatives -- needs to stabilise earnings "through close meshing with the bank’s corporate activities", said Klaus-Peter Müller, chairman of Commerzbank. This integration was identified as a target in 2003 but has yet to be achieved.

The Securities group saw negative pre-tax profits for the year as a small trading profit of e3 million was cancelled out by restructuring charges of e34 million.

A spokesperson for the bank said no personnel changes had resulted from the board meeting last Tuesday (February 17) when the board signed off the results.

Commerz has seen many departures from its FX business in recent months, including former global head of FX Ricardo Pascoe, who resigned in August 2003 after the dissolution of his position (FX Week, August 18, 2003).

Several senior FX positions remain vacant, including head of FX sales for Italy. London-based recruiters say attracting FX staff remains a problem, although Commerz declined to comment. But this could prove a positive if the bank proceeds with the widely expected merger with HVB. Commerz’s Müller said last week that the bank is ‘open’ to merger talks, and HVB confirmed it would like to be involved in German bank consolidation.