Comdirect Bank
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![]() Headquarters of the Comdirect Bank | |
Company type | Aktiengesellschaft |
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FWB: COM | |
ISIN | DE0005428007 |
Industry | Financial services |
Founded | 1994 |
Founder | Commerzbank |
Defunct | November 1, 2020 |
Headquarters | , |
Area served | Germany |
Key people |
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Products | Retail banking, Savings, Securities, Asset management |
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Total equity | ![]() |
Number of employees | 1,534 (2018) |
Parent | Commerzbank (82%)[1] |
Subsidiaries |
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Website | comdirect.de |
Comdirect Bank Aktiengesellschaft was the third-largest German direct bank and was based in Quickborn, Schleswig-Holstein.[2][3] Founded by the Commerzbank in 1994,[4] the company went public in 2000.[5] The Commerzbank integrated the company on November 1, 2020.
History
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/73/Comdirect-Logo.svg/220px-Comdirect-Logo.svg.png)
Foundation
In 1994, the Commerzbank desired to expand its business and customer base and therefore decided to establish a direct bank.[6] Commerzbank founded Comdirect, which was registered in December 1994 as a private limited company (GmbH - Gesellschaft mit beschränkter Haftung).[7] It began operations with 50 employees and 50 million Deutsche Mark on equity in January 1995.[8] The company positioned itself not as a traditional direct bank like seen before, but instead as a universal bank for private customers with a wide range of specialized products.[9] One of the first products of the Comdirect Bank was a money market account. Also, securities trading became one of the top priorities.[10]
Public offering
Within the first few months, the Comdirect Bank gained tens of thousands of customers.[11] In the late 1990s, the Comdirect Bank expanded to other European countries.[12] The Commerzbank and Deutsche Telekom agreed on the cooperation of their subsidiaries, the Comdirect Bank and T-Online International.[13] Comdirect Bank became a public company (Aktiengesellschaft) in November 1999 and went public in June 2000.[7][5] Commerzbank sold a minority stake in the company.[14] The stock was oversubscribed several times and later became part of the Nemax 50 index and the Prime Standard of Frankfurt Stock Exchange.[15][16] The proceeds of the initial public offering were used to build the investment banking of the Comdirect Bank, for example.[17] The company doubled its workforce to cope with the growing number of customers.[18]
Consolidation
In 2000, the burst of the dot-com bubble hit the financial industry. The Comdirect Bank was also affected and as a result, growth slowed.[19][20] After several successful years, the bank announced losses in 2001.[21] As the Comdirect Bank slipped into financial difficulties, the board launched a savings program.[22] At the end of 2001, the Comdirect Bank announced to focus on Germany and the United Kingdom. The company places its loss-making branches at disposal; the subsidiaries in France and Italy were sold and closed.[23][24] Finally, in 2004, the Comdirect Bank sold its British subsidiary, too.[25]
From then on, the Comdirect Bank exclusively focused on its home market in Germany.[26] The company accelerated the expansion of its product range and, in particular, cared more about customer advisory services.[27] The new strategy stabilized the business.[28] The first dividend was distributed in 2004 and in 2005,[29] the German retail banking of American Express was acquired, which helped to grow the customer base significantly.[30]
To profit more from the performance of the Comdirect Bank, the Commerzbank increased its investment to almost 80% in June 2005.[31] The group purchased the remaining share from T-Online International.[32]
Acquisitions
Even during the global financial crisis from 2007, the business remained stable; the Comdirect Bank profited from the increase in transactions in securities trading.[33]
In 2009, the Comdirect Bank acquired the European Bank for Financial Services (ebase) from the Commerzbank,[34] doubling the number of managed securities accounts.[35] At the same time, the bank extended its position in financial services and asset management.[35] During the following years, the Comdirect Bank repositioned the European Bank for Financial Services as a business-to-business bank.[36] In July 2018, comdirect agreed to sell ebase to London-based financial technology provider FNZ Group to focus more on the core business and completed the sale in July 2019.[37][38]
In 2016, the Comdirect Bank announced the acquisition of the Onvista Group.[39] Both the Onvista Bank and Onvista Media, operator of a high-reach financial portal, became part of the Comdirect Bank.[40] With this investment, the Comdirect Bank strengthened securities trading and financial information business at the same time.[41] While the Onvista Bank merged with the Comdirect Bank, Onvista Media continued operations as a subsidiary.[42]
Digitalization
In recent years, the Comdirect Bank invested heavily in digital technologies. For example, the company published the first online banking app with support for accounts from other institutions.[43] It launched the "startup garage" for financial technology startups.[44][45] The company was the first bank in Germany to publish an Amazon Alexa skill, for example, and later added support for Google Home.[46] The Comdirect Bank also launched a robo-advisor named Cominvest.[47]
In late 2019, Commerzbank entered into talks with Petrus Advisers to buy its 7.5% stake in Comdirect and take over the entire online bank.[48]
Structure
Onvista Media is a subsidiary of Comdirect bank in Germany.[40]
Products
comdirect bank offers current accounts, online brokerage and several types of credits and loans.[49][50][51][52]
Responsibility
In 2009, the Comdirect Bank and the Stuttgart Stock Exchange founded the Stiftung Rechnen, a non-profit foundation with a registered office in Hamburg and headquarters in Quickborn.[53] Its primary goal is to support knowledge of mathematics with a focus on young peogle to encourage a joy of numbers and calculation.[54] Johanna Wanka, former Federal Minister of Education and Research, is the patron of the Stiftung Rechnen;[55] Christian Rach, a star-rated chef and author, is one of its prominent ambassadors.[56]
Controversies
The Comdirect Bank accidentally reported 200 million euros to an account of a customer in 2012.[57] The bank justified the error with a technical problem on the sale of funds, which could not be seen before.[58] After the reversal, there was a negative balance, which caused lending rates that the Comdirect Bank had to reimburse.[59]
In 2016, a breakdown occurred after a software update:[60] A small number of customers of the Comdirect Bank were able to view account balances of other customers for a very short time.[61] However, third parties were not able to do wire transfers.[62] Though there was no financial or material damage, the company regretted the mistake, apologized to all affected customers and informed them about the extent of third-party access.[63][64]
Since 2017, the bank is being targeted by activist investor Petrus Advisers. The investor is questioning the cost structure (cost-income-ratio is over 70%), the governance and incentive structure, and the management quality among others.[65][66]
References
- ^ "Factsheet" (PDF). Retrieved August 9, 2018.
- ^ "comdirect bank Aktiengesellschaft". Federal Financial Supervisory Authority. Retrieved April 1, 2018.
- ^ "Größte Direktbanken in Deutschland im Jahr 2016 nach Kundenzahl (in 1.000)" (in German). Statista. Retrieved April 1, 2018.
- ^ "Commerzbank mit Direktbank". Horizont (in German). February 24, 1995. p. 4.
- ^ a b Schnell, Christian (June 6, 2000). "Geglückter Einstand von Comdirect". Handelsblatt. p. 31.
- ^ Hartwig, Dierk (February 17, 1995). "Das Standing der Commerzbank". Börsen-Zeitung (in German). p. 1.
- ^ a b "Company Register". Bundesanzeiger Verlag. Retrieved April 1, 2018.
- ^ "Neue Direktbank der Commerzbank". Börsen-Zeitung (in German). February 23, 1995. p. 4.
- ^ "Commerzbank schickt Direkttochter ins Rennen". Frankfurter Rundschau (in German). February 23, 1995. p. 14.
- ^ "Comdirect ist nicht nur Discount Broker". Handelsblatt (in German). February 23, 1995. p. 40.
- ^ "Commerzbank verdoppelt Ergebnis". Der Tagesspiegel (in German). July 29, 1995.
- ^ "Comdirect strebt ins Ausland". Frankfurter Rundschau (in German). April 22, 1999. p. 14.
- ^ "Neue Allianz im Internet-Banking". Die Welt (in German). February 18, 2000. p. 1.
- ^ Zimmermann, Ralf (June 6, 2000). "Comdirect startet mit Kurssprung am Neuen Markt". Financial Times Deutschland (in German). p. 1.
- ^ "Comdirect Bank im Nemax 50". Hamburger Abendblatt (in German). July 14, 2000. p. 20.
- ^ "comdirect bank Aktiengesellschaft". Frankfurt Stock Exchange. Retrieved April 1, 2018.
- ^ "Comdirect baut auch Investmentbanking auf". Financial Times Deutschland (in German). November 28, 2000. p. 23.
- ^ "Comdirect verdoppelt Belegschaft". Berliner Zeitung (in German). August 12, 2000. p. 34.
- ^ "Comdirect fallen auf neues Allzeittief". Handelsblatt (in German). November 16, 2000. p. 30.
- ^ "Comdirect enttäuscht mit Eckdaten". Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (in German). January 16, 2001. Retrieved April 1, 2018.
- ^ "Comdirect kündigt Verluste an". Handelsblatt (in German). March 16, 2001. p. 47.
- ^ "Comdirect: Sparprogramm angekündigt". Hamburger Abendblatt (in German). September 6, 2001. p. 25.
- ^ Löding, Torge (March 22, 2002). "Comdirect verkauft französische Tochter". Heise Online (in German). Retrieved April 1, 2018.
- ^ "Comdirect schließt italienische Tochter". Börsen-Zeitung (in German). February 26, 2002. p. 16.
- ^ "Comdirect verkauft britische Tochter". Handelsblatt (in German). June 17, 2004. p. 22.
- ^ "Comdirect: Letzte Auslandstochter verkauft". Die Welt (in German). June 17, 2004. p. 13.
- ^ "Comdirect will Kunden besser beraten". WirtschaftsWoche (in German). April 22, 2004. Retrieved April 1, 2018.
- ^ "Bei Comdirect zahlt sich der Sparkurs aus". Handelsblatt (in German). March 14, 2003. p. 21.
- ^ Seibel, Karsten (February 13, 2004). "Comdirect: Online-Broker schüttet erstmals Dividende aus". Die Welt (in German). p. 14.
- ^ Lebert, Rolf (October 21, 2005). "Comdirect kauft American Express 45.000 Privatkunden ab". Financial Times Deutschland (in German). p. 18.
- ^ "Commerzbank stockt Comdirect-Anteil auf". Handelsblatt. July 26, 2005. Retrieved April 1, 2018.
- ^ "T-Online stößt Anteil an Comdirect Bank ab". Börsen-Zeitung (in German). July 27, 2005. p. 4.
- ^ "Comdirect profitiert von Börsen-Turbulenzen". Handelsblatt (in German). August 8, 2008. p. 30.
- ^ "Comdirect übernimmt Ebase". Handelsblatt (in German). April 8, 2009. Retrieved April 1, 2018.
- ^ a b "Comdirect kauft Ebase". Börsen-Zeitung (in German). April 9, 2009. p. 5.
- ^ "Unternehmensprofil" (in German). European Bank for Financial Services. Retrieved April 1, 2018.
- ^ Finextra. "Comdirect offloads ebase to FNZ for EUR151 million". www.finextra.com.
- ^ "FNZ completes ebase acquisition from Comdirect". Finextra.com. July 17, 2019. Retrieved August 30, 2019.
- ^ Brächer, Michael (December 9, 2016). "Comdirect schluckt Onlinebroker Onvista". Handelsblatt (in German). Retrieved April 1, 2018.
- ^ a b "Comdirect verleibt sich Onvista ein". Börsen-Zeitung (in German). December 10, 2016. p. 1.
- ^ Baumgartner, Thomas (March 14, 2017). "Die Zukunft der Geldanlage ist digital". Frankfurter Neue Presse (in German). p. 5.
- ^ Brächer, Michael (September 12, 2016). "Perspektivisch brauchen wir nur eine Banklizenz". Handelsblatt (in German). Retrieved April 1, 2018.
- ^ "Comdirect Banking App erlaubt fremde Konten". Appgefahren (in German). September 16, 2010. Retrieved April 1, 2018.
- ^ Fehr, Mark (September 23, 2015). "Wir bieten Know-how für Start-ups". WirtschaftsWoche (in German). Retrieved April 1, 2018.
- ^ "Comdirect startet Accelerator für FinTechs". IT-Finanzmagazin (in German). September 29, 2015. Retrieved April 1, 2018.
- ^ Mussler, Hanno (October 8, 2018). "Comdirect setzt auf Alexa und Google Home". Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (in German). Retrieved May 22, 2018.
- ^ Schneider, Katharina (May 18, 2017). "Robo-Advisor: Comdirect startet digitalen Anlage-Service". Handelsblatt (in German). Retrieved August 25, 2017.
- ^ Tom Sims and Hans Seidenstuecker (December 30, 2019), Commerzbank in talks to buy Petrus Advisers stake in Comdirect: source Reuters.
- ^ "Comdirect hält an kostenlosem Girokonto fest". Börsen-Zeitung (in German). April 28, 2016. p. 4.
- ^ Hagen, Jens (October 9, 2014). "Die besten Banken für Geldanleger". Handelsblatt (in German). Retrieved April 1, 2018.
- ^ Groth, Julia (October 31, 2016). "Wo das Depot besonders günstig ist". Handelsblatt (in German). Retrieved April 1, 2018.
- ^ Seibel, Karsten (April 28, 2016). "Bankchef wettert gegen hohe Dispozinsen". Die Welt (in German). p. 13.
- ^ "Stiftung Rechnen gegründet". Hamburger Abendblatt (in German). October 28, 2009. p. 17.
- ^ "Stiftung Rechnen gegründet, Unterstützer gesucht". Coburger Tageblatt (in German). October 28, 2009. p. 16.
- ^ "Mathematik soll verbindend wirken". Allgemeine Zeitung (in German). September 16, 2016. p. 14.
- ^ "Kopf des Tages: Mathe-Botschafter". Rheinische Post (in German). October 28, 2010.
- ^ "Millionär durch ein Versehen". Nürnberger Nachrichten (in German). May 4, 2012. p. 21.
- ^ Hagen, Jens (May 3, 2012). "Wie ein Comdirect-Kunde über Nacht zum Millionär wurde". Handelsblatt (in German). Retrieved April 1, 2018.
- ^ "Comdirect muss Zinsen erstatten". Börsen-Zeitung (in German). May 4, 2012. p. 3.
- ^ "Schwere Panne: Datenleck bei Comdirect". Deutsche Welle (in German). July 18, 2016. Retrieved April 1, 2018.
- ^ Röder, Jürgen; Dowideit, Martin (July 18, 2016). "Heftige Panne: Fremde Kontostände bei Comdirect einsehbar". Handelsblatt (in German). Retrieved April 1, 2018.
- ^ "Comdirect: Was Sie über die Datenpanne wissen müssen". WirtschaftsWoche (in German). July 18, 2016. Retrieved April 1, 2018.
- ^ Brächer, Michael; Dowideit, Martin (July 20, 2016). "Comdirect leistet Abbitte". Handelsblatt (in German). p. 33.
- ^ Nebel, Erik (July 27, 2016). "Comdirect will Vertrauen zurückgewinnen". Hannoversche Allgemeine Zeitung (in German). p. 9.
- ^ Handelsblatt. "London Investor Blitzes Commerzbank". www.handelsblatt.com.
- ^ "Petrus Advisers to hike Comdirect stake to over 5 pct". www.reuters.com.
External links
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/4/4a/Commons-logo.svg/30px-Commons-logo.svg.png)
- Official website
- Business data for Comdirect Bank: