Message from the President and Chief Executive Officer Gerald T. McCaughey

For us, sustainable banking means managing and positioning the company for the long term. This view is embedded in our strategic planning and decision making.

Our strategic imperative is to deliver consistent, sustainable earnings over the long term. That same philosophy of consistency and sustainability also guides our conduct in the broader scope of our activities. We recognize that good business and corporate responsibility go hand in hand. Our success as a company depends on a sustainable economy, which in turn contributes to a healthy environment for our clients, employees, and communities.

Our commitment to sustainability is to be a good corporate citizen and to help our stakeholders achieve success. At CIBC, our goal is to create long-term sustainable value for stakeholders. We do this by operating as a low risk bank, generating consistent sustainable returns for shareholders, focusing on our clients, employees and communities and growing our businesses in a thoughtful and managed way.

Corporate governance is another element of our commitment. Two of our Board committees – the Corporate Governance Committee and the Risk Management Committee – have specific oversight accountabilities related to CIBC’s corporate responsibility. Our corporate values of Trust, Teamwork and Accountability further reflect our commitment.

Our benchmarks for measuring progress are the international indices that assess corporate responsibility efforts. DJSI, FTSE4Good and Jantzi Social Index are three such indices. We are proud to be longstanding constituents of each.
In 2012, we were proud for CIBC to be recognized by a number of other third party organizations that assess our performance across a broad range of categories. These include being named:

• Strongest bank in North America and third in the world by Bloomberg Markets magazine;
• Among the top 10 of the World’s Safest Banks in North America by Global Finance magazine;
• One of the 50 Most Socially Responsible Corporations in Canada by Maclean’s magazine and Sustainalytics;
• One of the 25 Best Canadian Brands by Interbrand Canada;
• One of Canada’s 10 Most Admired Corporate Cultures by Waterstone Human Capital;
• One of Canada’s Best Workplaces by the Great Place to Work Institute; and
• One of Canada’s Top 100 Employers for 2013 and one of Canada’s Best Diversity Employers and a Best Employer for New Canadians by Mediacorp Canada Inc.

We are proud of the contributions CIBC has made to the economic and social vibrancy of our communities. We made significant progress on our strategic agenda in 2012 and achieved sound results and performance. We came through another year of uncertain times and are well positioned for continued success.

Gerald T. McCaughey
President and Chief Executive Officer