BERLIN, May 8 (Xinhua) -- Commerzbank AG's operating profit fell 5.6 percent to 244 million euros (273 million U.S. dollars) and its net profit attributable to shareholders more than halved to 120 million euros in the first quarter (Q1) of fiscal 2019, Germany's second largest bank announced on Wednesday.
Net profits were "impacted by taxes and discontinued business," the bank said, while lower administrative expenses only partially offset the decline in earnings.
This year, corporate taxes for Commerzbank have been comparatively high at 90 million euros, the bank said.
"We are addressing the right issues with our strategy," emphasized Martin Zielke, chairman of the board of managing directors at Commerzbank.
Total revenue for Q1 of 2019 was 2.16 billion euros compared to 2.22 billion euros in the same period of 2018, when the bank "had benefited from special and valuation effects."
Underlying revenue adjusted for one-off effects was also slightly down on the previous year at 2.19 billion euros, the bank announced.
In the first three months of 2019, Commerzbank attracted 123,000 new retail customers and 800 new corporate clients.
Commerzbank's assets under control in Germany grew by 5.5 percent to 402 billion euros and "are currently above the target for 2020."
"Our growth with customers and assets is enabling us to strengthen our revenue base thereby compensating the effects from low interest rates and margin pressure," said Zielke.
Back in March, Commerzbank and Deutsche Bank announced that they were in talks about a possible merger.
The announcement was supported by Germany's Finance Minister Olaf Scholz, who has been calling for a "national champion" in the country's banking sector.
Since the two major German banks terminated the merger negotiations at the end of April, Zielke has repeatedly emphasized the strength of Commerzbank.
Looking ahead to the rest of 2019, Commerzbank expects "higher underlying revenues" than in the previous year. Adjusted income is expected to increase slightly, while costs are expected to fall to below 6.8 billion euros.
