Enterprise Risk Management at Commerzbank

After the First World War, hyperinflation in Germany led to a rash of mergers among crippled banks. Commerz absorbed regional players including Mitteldeutsche Private-Bank (1920) and Mitteldeutsche Credit bank (1929). In the late 1920s, the bank partnered with Chase National Bank to bring foreign money into Germany.

As the Depression swept Europe, the government bought a majority stake and merged it with Barmer Bank-Verein. Commerz became one of Germany's six Berliner Grossbanken. The name Commerzbank was coined after the government sold its stake in 1940. After the Second World War, the Allies overhauled Germany's banking system.

During the 1970s, it acquired stakes in a variety of nonbanking companies, spurred by a government fearful that Middle Eastern oil money would take control of the country's struggling industrial giants.

In the 1980s, over expansion, bad loans in Latin America, and a bloated staff took its toll. On the verge of failure, Commerzbank brought in banker Walter Seipp to lead a recovery. He cut costs and focused on profit and helped to get the bank back to shape by 1984. It then focused on creating an allfinanz group, lining up with such firms as insurance provider DBV Versicherungen and savings and loan company Leonberger Bausparkasse.