FRANKFURT (S&P Global Ratings) Jan. 8, 2021--S&P Global Ratings said today that Commerzbank AG's (BBB+/Negative/A-2) booking of additional restructuring costs, along with its decision to fully write-off its goodwill, highlights the challenges it faces in transforming its franchise under its new chief executive officer (CEO). Commerzbank is far from alone in dealing with weak risk-adjusted profitability, but its restructuring is already protracted. Furthermore, any improvement has become increasingly difficult amid the COVID-19 pandemic--which also led to a further increase in loss provisioning needs for 2020--and ongoing strong competition in an ultra-low rate environment. In an ad-hoc market announcement on Dec. 28, 2020, Commerzbank stated that it would book additional restructuring costs of €610 million related to the planned reduction of
