Germany's second largest bank, Commerzbank, says that the sale of a stake in the Korea Exchange Bank (KEB) led to a 77% rise in operating income for the first quarter to E959 million compared to last year, ahead of analysts' expectations.
The statement did not reveal full results for the lender, which will be posted later in the week, but the bank added that group earnings of E740 million were 87% more than the year-ago period.
The Frankfurt-based company said that the sale of the 8.1% stake in South Korean lender KEB, sold to Kookmin Bank in February, earned the bank E407 million. The bank said that it published the figures ahead of the results because they are so far ahead of market predictions.