Pre-tax profits at Commerzbank's corporates and markets arm surged more than four fold to €343m ($440m) in the first six months of the year as booming trading revenues drove a recovery at the bank.

The bank said the "excellent result" at the division in the first half of the year, which involved "sustained earnings growth and a historical low for the risk level despite volatile markets" vindicated its strategic shift away from proprietary trading at the end of 2004.