With balance sheet total of over €420 billion, Frankfurtheadquartered Commerzbank, which was established in 1870, ranks among the leading private commercial banks in Germany and Europe. The Commerzbank Group has more than 32,000 employees, some 7,000 of whom are based outside Germany. A modern, full-service bank, Commerzbank serves nearly 8 million private and commercial clients. The bank maintains 800 branches in Germany and is also present in all international financial centers.

A modern financial institution like Commerzbank generates huge amounts of paper—transaction receipts, personnel files, loan agreements, credit documents … Since many documents have to be kept for up to 40 years, this represents literally mountains of paper. A few years ago, Commerzbank started to reduce this volume. The bank’s “Personnel Files” project carried out in 2004 is indicative of the dimensions of the problem. This project alone involved assembling, scanning, sorting, classifying and indexing the personnel files of more than 30,000 employees and, finally, integrating the results into a document-management system. And that’s only one example! In addition to these files, it is also necessary to digitize documentation of everyday transactions, including checks, transfer orders and debit card activities in near real time. It may come as a surprise, but Commerzbank doesn’t outsource this work, and not only because of the sensitive nature of the confidential data. The main reason why that is a standardized workflow with virtually total automation also guarantees maximum economy and processing quality. “In addition to quality and security issues, economic considerations play a decisive role when it comes to the digitization of documents” explains Klaus Degen, Commerzbank’s Dept. Director Transaction Banking. “That’s what makes it necessary to have a seamless solution that lets us cover all of our needs at market conditions.” And scanning lines equipped with advanced scanners and innovative Intel® Itanium® 2-based PRIMERGY servers from Fujitsu Siemens Computers make that possible.