photoTAN for corporate clients
Online banking is now even easier – with our photoTAN authorisation procedure. photoTAN allows you to authorise your login into the Corporate Banking portal as well as payment orders in Global Payment Plus and many other transactions, such as securities transactions, guarantees, money market loan and fixed-term deposits - securely and worldwide.
The basis of the photoTAN procedure is a coloured graphic, which you can scan with the practical photoTAN reader or via the photoTAN app on your smartphone. The two factor authorisation procedure ensures the best possible security. Initially, the reader generates a transaction number (TAN) from the photoTAN graphic. In the second step, this TAN is entered in the application, for example to authorise a payment transaction order.

In December 2016, the photoTAN was given the first place in the category "Mobile Treasury Solution" by specialist magazine TMI.
- One procedure for all – a standard authorisation procedure for your login, payment transactions in Global Payment Plus and for other transactions in the Corporate Banking portal
- Payment orders from Global Payment Plus can also be authorised worldwide via your smartphone
- Practical photoTAN reader for scanning
- photoTAN app for smartphones available in the App Store or Play Store free of charge
- Security through the two factor authorisation procedure
1. Open www.corporates.commerzbank.com and login with your participant number/login name and PIN (this was sent to you separately when you first registered for the Corporate Banking portal).
2. Open the “Profile & Settings ” tab and select “Security”.
3. In “photoTAN”, click “Request”.
4. If necessary, click “photoTAN reading device” and “"Continue?"”.
5. Enter the number of readers required, select an account to be debited and click “Continue”?
6. Confirm the order by clicking on “Approve”
Alternatively, you can use your smartphone as a reader. Simply download the free app (links to App Store and Play Store) and order the activation letter that enables you to set up photoTAN (see Step 3).
Additional information
- After setting up photoTAN or ordering the reader, you will receive an activation letter and the reader after 2 to 3 working days, which must then be activated (see instructions and “Activation”. During this period, due the conversion to the new authorisation procedure, your existing PIN will be blocked for the approval of transactions in the Corporate Banking portal only. Users of Global Payment Plus with signature stick are not affected by this.
- One reader costs 29.90 euros including VAT and can store the activation details of up to 8 different user numbers for one person. Based on the TAN graphic to be read, the device will automatically recognise which user number a TAN should be generated for. The sharing of a reader by more than one person is not permitted.
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We have summarised the most important functions of your photoTAN reader for you here.
Functions
Button A: Press the button for at least 2 seconds to switch the device on or off – depending on the operating condition. Regardless of this, the device will turn itself off automatically after a certain period of time.
Button B and C: Depending on what you have just done with the device, these buttons will trigger different actions. Each action here will be shown above the button on the device’s screen.
There is a camera on the back of the device, which scans the photoTAN graphic. You will see the picture taken by the camera on the device’s screen.
TAN read mode
After successful activation, the reader will automatically go directly into TAN read mode every time it is switched on. Here, the inbuilt camera will attempt to read a photoTAN graphic in order to generate the corresponding order data and a TAN. You will see the camera picture on the device’s screen.
As you did during activation, point the reader at a photoTAN graphic until it is completely shown within the marking on the screen. It’s best to hold the reader 10–20 centimetres away from this graphic. Try to hold the reader parallel to the graphic you're reading in.
As soon as the reader recognises the graphic, the TAN required for the release will be shown on the device’s display.
For more detailed information, download the complete operating instructions as a PDF.
As soon as you receive the activation letter with your personal activation graphic, you can also activate your reader or smartphone app and use the photoTAN procedure immediately.
1. Please go to www.corporates.commerzbank.com and log in with participant number/register name and PIN (if you have made a new registration to the Corporate Banking portal these will have been sent to you separately). Then go to the heading “Administration”.
2. Open the “Administration & Tools” tab and select “photoTAN”. To set it up select the field “Activate”.
3. Start your reader or the photoTAN app and scan the activation graphic from your letter. Once you have successfully scanned it, you will receive a confirmation on your reader or smartphone.
Important note: If you set up the photoTAN using your smartphone, you can skip the following steps. Simply follow the instructions in the photoTAN app. After completing the activation in the app, please log out of the portal and log in again so that the settings take effect.
4. Scan the photoTAN graphic shown on your computer screen with your reader.
5. Your first photoTAN will now appear on the reader. Enter this photoTAN in your Corporate Banking portal in the TAN input field at the lower end of the activation screen and confirm with “Continue”.
6. Confirm in the reader that you inserted the photoTAN in the Corporate Banking portal. The activation is now complete and you begin authorising your banking transactions using with the new photoTAN procedure.
With the photoTAN-Push function, login release orders in the Corporate Banking Portal can be approved quickly and conveniently with just one click via the smartphone.
Procedure
1. After logging into the Corporate Banking Portal with the participant number and PIN you will receive a photo TAN query.
2. If you have activated the photoTAN app as a release medium, the order will be sent to the photoTAN app.
3. If you now open the photoTAN app, the release order for your login into the portal will be displayed immediately.
4. By releasing the login via the "Confirm login" button, you will be forwarded to the start page of the Corporate Banking Portal or your preset start application without manually entering a TAN.
Requirements and further information
- Prerequisite is the latest version of the photoTAN app on your smartphone.
- To activate photoTAN-Push, you have to register once in the app with your participant number and PIN.
- photoTAN-Push in the Corporate Banking Portal currently only works for the release order of the login. An extension of the function to other photoTAN release orders is planned for the future.
- The smartphone must be online to enable the one-click approval.
- If you have activated the "Send message" function, you will receive a notification on your smartphone each time you receive a login release order for approval. For iOS devices, this permission can be granted when the app is activated. For Android devices, you will be prompted for permission when downloading the app from the Google Play Store.
- You can switch at any time (e.g. if the smartphone is offline) to the known photoTAN scan procedure via a corresponding link in the release module of the portal.