Commerzbank cut ship financing by 4.5 billion euros, meeting a target it had originally set for 2016, the Frankfurt-based bank said in a statement today. The reduction contributed to the lender’s pledge to accelerate efforts to offload non-core assets and boost its capital base.
Soured shipping loans led the bank to set aside about 600 million euros in loan-loss provisions in 2012 and 2013, a figure it will probably earmark again in 2014 as the industry continues to languish, finance chief Stephan Engels said on a conference call today.