Comdirect bank AG: comdirect: Growth accelerated significantly

DGAP-News: comdirect bank AG / Key word(s): 9-month figures/Quarter Results comdirect bank AG: comdirect: Growth accelerated significantly 30.10.2018 / 07:30 The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement. comdirect: Growth accelerated significantly Good nine-month pre-tax profit for 2018 of EUR64.3m Around 160k new B2C customers in the first three quarters comdirect plans to conduct insurance brokerage in the future Artificial intelligence an important foundation for faster growth Quickborn, Frankfurt/Main, Germany, 30 October 2018. The comdirect group closed the first nine months of 2018 with pre-tax profit of EUR64.3m (previous year: EUR72.5m). The pre-tax return on equity stood at 13.7% (previous year: 16.3%). "We have invested heavily in growth, whilst simultaneously achieving a good result," says comdirect bank AG CEO Arno Walter. "comdirect is a growth company. We gained 60k new B2C customers in the third quarter; that's around 160k since the start of the year, more than double our customer growth of the previous year." Accelerated growth in customer numbers, custody accounts and assets under control In the previous year's period, the rise stood at 73k net new customers (excluding inorganic growth resulting from the acquisition of onvista bank customers in April 2017). At the end of the nine-month period 2018, the number of customers in the B2C business segment was 2.45m. In addition, the number of custody accounts rose by 134k to 1.34m - twice the increase in the previous year (increase of 65k). The number of current accounts rose by 83k to 1.51m. Assets under control climbed EUR6.4bn to EUR65.4bn and portfolio volume by EUR4.0bn to EUR41.1bn, despite price losses on the securities markets. According to Walter, "Our customers have invested more in securities. At EUR4.7bn, net fund inflows to custody accounts are at an all-time high. We are of course especially pleased about this. In our efforts to be the top address in saving, investing and trading with securities, our goal is to attract even more customers to securities investment. After all, if you only put your money into low-interest investments, increasing inflation means your investment will continue lose value. Securities investment is essential for the long-term accumulation of wealth." comdirect offers API for integrating external trading and investment platforms In order to attract even more customers to securities investment, comdirect has again brought some innovative developments to the market in recent months. One such development is enhanced motif investing, which supports customers in selecting securities according to their investment motives. The options for investment motives that relate to trends , such as robotics and biotechnology, have been added to. Alongside funds, ETFs and shares can also be selected. The digital asset manager cominvest, which now manages around EUR400m in assets under management, is also being expanded. With savings plans starting from EUR100 a month, cominvest customers have had the opportunity to additionally invest in their own asset accumulation since the third quarter. comdirect now offers a modern brokerage interface (API) for the trading, investing and analysis platforms of external partners. The first partner to be integrated is Guidants, one of the largest and most innovative investment platforms in Germany. From the end of November, traders will be able to trade with comdirect without leaving their Guidants-tailored information interface. Smart financial companion helps to optimise expenses and insurance Customers can now use comdirect sparCheck to compare electricity and gas suppliers and switch very easily. The amounts saved will then be automatically invested in ETFs. According to Walter, "As a smart financial companion, comdirect not only wants to support its customers in their banking transactions, but also wants to help them optimise their expenditure." This goes for insurance too. Over the next year, customers will not only be able to easily keep all their insurance contracts together digitally with comdirect, but will be able to optimise them in a few simple steps. This enables customers to have an overview of their insurance policies, in addition to their finances, at all times. In developing new banking services, comdirect focused on the needs of an increasingly mobile and digital generation in particular. The innovative comdirect app, which already offers chat and voice transfers, and which is set to receive the gold German Design Award 2019, will be enhanced in short development cycles in collaboration with customers. From mid-November, customers will be able to access the app via Apple Watch and view their current account balances with just one click. Positive development in both net interest income and net commission income In the nine-month period, comdirect increased the income in its core B2C business by 8% to EUR252.2m (previous year: EUR234.3m). Net commission income rose compared with the previous year (EUR139.1m) by 12% to EUR155.5m. The increase is primarily due to organic growth and the integration of onvista bank and onvista media GmbH across the 2018 reporting period. At 15.9m, the number of B2C trades in the first nine months of 2018 stood 29% above the previous year (12.3m), reaching a new record high. Despite the ongoing persistent low interest environment, net interest income after provisions for possible loan losses rose by 18% from EUR73.2m in the previous year to EUR86.2m. This was against the background of an increased volume in the deposit and lending business, as well as the moderate adjustment in investment strategy. At EUR10.4m, other income was below the previous year's figure of EUR22.0m, which was influenced by a high result from financial investments. Growth investments pushed forward in products, technology and marketing The 16% rise in administrative expenses in the core B2C business of EUR171.9m in the previous year to EUR198.8m is essentially due to the increase in other administrative expenses. Alongside the increased costs resulting from the integration of onvista across the entire 2018 reporting period, this predominantly includes increased growth investments in new products, technological development and measures for gaining customers and increasing assets under control. In addition, mandatory contributions for the deposit insurance scheme were higher as a result of growth and the changed assessment basis. Earnings expectations maintained The pre-tax profit in the core B2C business at the end of nine months came to EUR53.4m (previous year: EUR62.4m). The discontinued activities (ebase) generated pre-tax profit of EUR10.9m (previous year: EUR10.1m). comdirect is maintaining its income expectations for 2018 as a whole of around EUR145m before taxes for the group announced halfway through the year. The result aimed for takes into account additional growth investments of up to EUR30m and is subject to the agreed sale of ebase GmbH being concluded in the current year. The sale of subsidiary ebase to the FNZ Group was agreed in July 2018 and remains subject to the approval of the supervisory authorities and fulfilment of contractually agreed closing conditions. If the transaction is concluded in the fourth quarter, it would result in non-recurring pre-tax income of at least EUR85m for 2018. comdirect significantly increased its growth investments in the second and third quarters, partly in light of the expected non-recurring amount. Increased use of artificial intelligence (AI) comdirect will continue to invest in growth in the future. In addition to marketing strategies and investments in innovative products, this includes investing in technological advances through the application of AI components. Current examples of this include intelligent voice response systems and robotic process automation (RPA), which enable standard customer management processes to be automated, and chatbots, which assist customer care agents in their personal contact with customers. According to Walter, "By using AI, we will be able to make processes more convenient, tailored and faster for our customers. AI also forms an important foundation for scaling our business model and cost-efficient growth."   Overview* in EURk Q1 17 Q2 17 Q3 17 Q4 17 Q1 18 Q2 18 Q3 18 Net interest income               after provisions for possible loan losses 24,671 23,586 24,939 23,077 26,262 30,218 29,739 Net commission income 44,757 46,885 47,451 55,142 59,247 48,644 47,658 Other income 5,894 9,639 6,504 8,019 3,423 3,768 3,228 Administrative               expenses 51,285 60,154 60,500 67,385 63,032 67,087 68,718 Pre-tax profit from continued activities 24,037 19,956 18,394 18,853 25,900 15,543 11,907 Pre-tax profit from discontinued activities 3,390 3,529 3,147 3,555 3,399 3,109 4,412 Pre-tax consolidated profit 27,427 23,485 21,541 22,408 29,299 18,652 16,319 Consolidated net profit 20,372 20,340 15,476 15,356 21,697 13,618 12,002   in EURk 9M 17 9M 18 9M 18 vs       9M 17 Net interest income       after provisions for possible loan losses 73,196 86,219 17.8% Net commission income 139,093 155,549 11.8% Other income 22,037 10,419 -52.7% Administrative       expenses 171,939 198,837 15.6% Pre-tax profit from continued activities 62,387 53,350 -14.5% Pre-tax profit from discontinued activities 10,066 10,920 8.5% Pre-tax consolidated profit 72,453 64,270 -11.3% Consolidated net profit 56,188 47,317 -15.8%   *In connection with the agreed sale, the business of ebase is reported as "discontinued activity". The previous year's figures were adjusted accordingly. Contacts for this press release Annette Siragusano Tel. [phone] Email: [e-mail] Ullrike Hamer Tel. [phone] Email: [e-mail] Information for editorial teams You can find more information about business performance in the first nine months of 2018 here: https://www.comdirect.de/cms/ueberuns/de/investorrelations/veroeffentlichungen.html All our press releases are available at www.comdirect.de/presse News about digital trends and innovations in all things finance can be found on the comdirect Board of Managing Directors blog at www.bank-neu-denken.de. Follow us on Twitter at https://twitter.com/comdirect or https://twitter.com/Arno_Walter. If you do not wish to receive any information, please let us know by writing to [e-mail] 30.10.2018 Dissemination of a Corporate News, transmitted by DGAP - a service of EQS Group AG. The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement. 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Language:	English
Company:	comdirect bank AG
	Pascalkehre 15
	25451 Quickborn
	Germany
Phone:	+ 49 (0) 4106/704-0
Fax:	+ 49 (0) 4106/708-2580
E-mail:	[e-mail]
Internet:	www.comdirect.de
ISIN:	DE0005428007
WKN:	542800
Listed:	Regulated Market in Frankfurt (Prime Standard); Regulated Unofficial Market in Berlin, Dusseldorf, Hamburg, Hanover, Munich, Stuttgart, Tradegate Exchange

End of News	DGAP News Service

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