Commerzbank posts heavy first-quarter losses

The bank, which took on a heavy load of bad assets last year in a takeover of Dresdner Bank, lost 861 million euros in the first quarter. Chief executive Martin Blessing said the bank, which has already received more than 18 billion euros in state help, would not take more government loans or issue new stock to raise capital.

"This bank is strong enough to rebound without long-term public aid," Blessing told a news conference in Frankfurt on Friday.

Commerzabank, the second-biggest German bank, has received more than 18 billion euros (24 billion dollars) in fresh capital from the German government, which now owns just over 25 percent of the bank.

The European Commission approved on Thursday the second instalment of aid in exchange for a large-scale sale of Commerzbank's assets.

"We firmly intend to reimburse all of that money," Blessing told reporters.

He did not rule out a capital increase to raise the necessary funds however.

Meanwhile in the United States, 10 of 19 banks that had been studied under Washington's "stress test" program have been told they must raise new capital. Among the worst off are Bank of America, with a shortfall of nearly 34 billion dollars, and and automaker General Motors' lending arm GMAC, which needs to raise just over 11 billion.