Commerzbank, Germany’s second-largest bank and partially government-owned, played an active role in helping foreign investors exploit a tax loophole that artificially lowered German tax payments by around €1 billion, or $1.1 billion, a year, research by Handelsblatt and a group of global media publications shows. The trick allowed investors to lower their capital-gains tax payments and often claim maximum tax refunds from the German government by combining an investment technique called “dividend stripping’’ with the help of domestic banks such as Commerzbank. Experts say the practice allowed foreign investors to ... (full story)