[FRANKFURT] Commerzbank expects first quarter earnings to be below those of the fourth quarter of 2015, hurt by low interest rates and capital market volatility at the start of the year, Chief Executive Martin Blessing said on Wednesday. "This will have an effect on the full year: it will be clearly more challenging to reach the group result achieved in 2015," Mr Blessing told the bank's annual meeting of shareholders.

As recently as last month, Germany's second-biggest lender was still predicting a slight improvement in net income this year.

Commerzbank posted net profit of 1.06 billion euros (US$1.20 billion) in the full year 2015, including 187 million euros in the fourth quarter. It reports first-quarter results on May 3.

REUTERS