TORONTO, Dec. 6 /CNW/ - CIBC (CM: TSX; NYSE) announced today that President and CEO Gerry McCaughey has established a pre-arranged plan for the automatic sale of approximately 44,000 CIBC common shares and the exercise of approximately 500,000 options.  The shares acquired on the exercise of options would be sold automatically. 

These transactions will start in January 2011 and occur at pre-determined intervals throughout 2011.  This allows for an orderly, automatic process, avoiding the sale of a large block of shares all at once or over a short time period.  

Mr. McCaughey will continue to exceed CIBC's guidelines on executive share ownership of six times his base salary during and after the execution of the plan.  Mr. McCaughey is conducting these transactions for personal financial planning purposes.

These types of automatic plans allow participants to exercise options and sell shares on a pre-determined basis. The participant has no discretion to alter the terms of that arrangement or influence the execution of the plan. Appropriate filings reporting the sales will be made with securities regulatory authorities within the required time frame.

The plan was established in accordance with the guidelines of the Ontario Securities Commission and the rules of the United States Securities and Exchange Commission, as well as CIBC's policies on exercising options and selling shares held by directors and officers.