TORONTO, Sept. 29 /CNW/ - CIBC (CM: TSX; NYSE) announced today that Gerry McCaughey, President and Chief Executive Officer, has established a pre-arranged trading plan to exercise options for CIBC common shares and to sell the acquired shares. Starting in February 2009, Mr. McCaughey will exercise these options in 11 installments during the last year of the life of the options, which expire in 2010.

Mr. McCaughey's plan includes a timetable to exercise a set number of options for CIBC common shares at regular, predetermined intervals before they expire. This timetable is meant to promote an orderly, automatic exercise process, avoiding the sale of a large block all at once or over a short time period. The plan provides for Mr. McCaughey to exercise approximately 10,000 options each month beginning February 2, 2009 until December 1, 2009.

The number of CIBC common shares Mr. McCaughey would continue to hold during and after the execution of the plan far exceeds CIBC's guidelines on executive share ownership.

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.