The private customers segment at Germany’s Commerzbank posted an operating profit of €112 million ($145.2 million) for the first quarter of the year, in line with last year’s level of €116 million.

The segment incorporates the bank's wealth management business in Germany and international private wealth business in Luxembourg, but also other aspects of retail banking.

Without disclosing any figures, the bank said in a statement that revenues in the segment continued to be affected by client reservation in securities as well as low interest rates. Lower revenues were compensated by cost reductions and operating expenses were cut by 18 per cent compared with the same period in 2011.

Commerzbank said that the main focus of the private customers segment in the first quarter was on customer deposits, which increased by around €7 billion.

The bank as a whole logged an operating profit of €584 million, down from €1.144 billion in the first quarter of 2011, but up from €163 million in the final quarter of last year. The bank also said that it has now achieved the European Banking Authority's capital target of €5.3 billion with an additional buffer of €1.1 billion.

In the aftermath of the 2008 financial crash, Commerzbank, which was bailed out by the German government, was forced to dispose of some non-German assets as a condition of receiving state aid. 

A few days ago, Deutsche Bank, the country's biggest bank, said that net revenues at the private clients and asset management arm fell to €3.4 billion in the first three months of this year compared with €4.1 billion a year before.