Can Commerzbank hold its own alone in the future against international competition?
Its our firm intention at least to do so, and I think were on the right course. This is shown not only by the fact that we have bought Eurohypo and will bid for Berliner Bank, but also by the banks business performance even over the past few years. We believe that we can look into the future with confidence. Everything else must come with time. We cant predict today how things are going to develop; no one can do that. But we are determined to take the bank forward as an independent unit, with as strong earnings as possible. Isnt a commitment like Eurohypo which means real estate subject to very sharp fluctuations? That is precisely not the case. The great advantage of a mortgage bank combined with a universal bank is that the flow of earnings is relatively constant. In other words, business is very long-term, and basically you can work out your portfolio for the entire year fairly precisely right at the start of the year. You know what new business is needed, but you already have very
