Dresdner Bank

Until the body was taken over by Commerzbank on August 31, 2008, Dresdner Bank AG was one of Germany’s strongest banks, headquartered in Frankfurt. The structure was established in 1872 with an initial capital of about DM 24 million. The bank played a significant role in WW I, as it had the largest branch network in Germany. During WWII, its management was supervising many banks in the countries under German occupation.

The legal merger of Dresdner Bank and Commerzbank has made the new bank a competitive player on the German finance market, holding strong positions across Europe. Dresdner Bank’s clientele includes private and business customers, finance and state institutions, and big corporations.

To its private clients, the team of Dresdner Bank offers integrated services for everyday banking, including transactions, payments, advisory, asset management, etc, while the business clients can take advantage of a wide range of financing solution and start-ups.

The clients of Dresdner Bank, standing in the higher walk of life, are served by the company’s Private Wealth Management Unit, which provides accurate investment counseling, precise market analyses, along with asset, realty, and risk management solutions. Managers of medium-sized and larger businesses may refer to the company’s Corporate Banking Unit, which will offer them a vast variety of solutions and products, including capital market analyses and commercial banking.

Dresdner Kleinwort, operating under the cap of Dresdner Bank, caters for the needs of the company’s institutional clients, investors, international groups, and middle-market corporate clients, based in Germany, while the Capital Markets department oversees the company’s operations in view of foreign exchange management, equities, loans, and securities management.

Dresdner Bank’s Global Banking unit provides corporate advisory services and finance, based on a uniform credit platform. The structure also provides consultations on takeovers and complex capital market transactions. After the merger, these transactions are executed by the managing board of Commerzbank AG.

The bank has suffered significant losses, due to deteriorating global market conditions, and reports losses of 6.2 billion Euros for the financial year of 2008, accompanied by a reduction of the core capital ratio, which was not sufficient to enable Dresdner Bank’s independent operation and necessitated merger with Commerzbank Group. At present, Dresdner Bank’s network has 865 offices, of which 847 are based in Germany. At the end of the last year, the company announced that it had registered six million clients in Germany and around the world. Despite the recession, the team of Dresdner Bank has managed to strengthen their positions in mortgage lending, announcing eleven percent growth at the end of the last year.

Commercial Banks Guide > Dresdner Bank