CANADIAN IMPERIAL BANK OF COMMERCE /CAN/

Appendix A

Rating Definitions

Morningstar DBRS

Short-term debt ratings provide an opinion on the risk that an issuer will not meet its short-term financial obligations in a timely manner. Short-term debt rated R-1 (high) is of the highest credit quality, indicative of an entity with an exceptionally high capacity to repay its short-term financial obligations. R-1 is the highest of six short-term debt rating categories. The R-1 and R-2 categories are further denoted with “high”, “middle” and “low” subcategories.

Long-term issuer and senior debt ratings provide an assessment of the risk that an issuer will not be able to meet its financial obligations in accordance with the terms under which an obligation has been issued. Credit ratings are based on quantitative and qualitative considerations relevant to the issuer, and the relative ranking of claims. Issuers and senior debt rated AA is ranked in the second highest of 10 categories. It is considered to be of superior credit quality, with capacity for payment considered to be high. The credit quality of issuers and obligations rated AA differs from the highest AAA category only to a small degree and is unlikely to be significantly susceptible to future events. The AA category is further denoted by the subcategories “high” and “low”. The absence of a “high” or “low” indicates a rating in the middle of the category.

Long-term debt rated A is ranked in the third highest of 10 categories. It is considered to be of good credit quality, with substantial capacity for payment. The A category is further denoted by the subcategories “high” and “low”. The absence of a “high” or “low” indicates a rating in the middle of the category.

Long-term debt rated BBB is ranked in the fourth highest of 10 categories. It is considered to be of adequate credit quality with acceptable capacity for payment. The BBB category is further denoted by the subcategories “high” and “low”. The absence of a “high” or “low” indicates a rating in the middle of the category.

Preferred share ratings provide an assessment of the risk that an issuer will not be able to meet its dividend and principal obligations in accordance with the terms under which the preferred shares have been issued. Preferred shares rated Pfd-2 are of good credit quality with substantial protection of dividends and principal. APfd-2 rating is the second highest of six categories for preferred shares. Each category is further denoted by the subcategories “high” and “low”. The absence of a “high” or “low” indicates a rating in the middle of the category.

Fitch

The F1 category is for obligations of the highest short-term credit quality and indicates the strongest intrinsic capacity to meet near-term obligations. The F1 rating is the highest of seven categories used for short-term debt; a “+” may be added to indicate very strong capacity to meet near-term obligations.

Derivative counterparty ratings reflect a bank’s relative vulnerability to default, due to an inability to pay on any derivative contract with third-party, non-government counterparties. Ratings of individual securities or financial obligations of a corporate issuer address relative vulnerability to default on an ordinal scale. In addition, for financial obligations in corporate finance, a measure of recovery given default on that liability is also included in the rating assessment. Issuer default ratings (IDR) opine on an entity’s relative vulnerability to default on financial obligations. The threshold default risk addressed by the IDR is generally that of the financial obligations whosenon-payment would best reflect the uncured failure of that entity. AA is the second highest of 11 rating categories for long-term obligations and indicates an assessment of very low default risk. This rating indicates a very strong capacity for payment of financial commitments that is not significantly susceptible to foreseeable events.

The A category is the third highest of the rating categories for long-term obligations and indicates an assessment of low default risk. The capacity for payment is considered strong but may be more susceptible to adverse business or economic conditions than that of higher rating categories.

The BBB category is the fourth highest of the rating categories for long-term obligations and indicates an assessment of low default risk. The capacity for payment is considered adequate but adverse business or economic conditions are more likely to impair the capacity for payment.

The designation “+” or “-” may be used to denote relative position within certain major long-term rating categories, while the absence of such a modifier indicates a rating in the middle of the category.

CIBC2025**** Annual Information Form13

Moody’s

Short-term debt ratings are assessments of an issuer’s ability to repay obligations with an original maturity of 13 months or less. Moody’s has four categories of short-term ratings with the P-1 category being the highest credit quality. Borrowers rated P-1 have a superior ability to repay short-term debt obligations.

Counterparty risk ratings (CRR) are opinions of the ability of entities to honour theirnon-debt financial liabilities to unrelated counterparties such as derivatives and sale and repurchase transactions. CRRs also reflect the expected financial losses not covered by collateral, in the event such liabilities are not honoured.

Long-term debt ratings assess both the likelihood of default on contractual payments and the expected loss in the event of default on obligations with an original maturity of 11 months or more.

The Aa rating category is the second highest of nine categories and includes obligations judged to be high quality and subject to very low credit risk.

The A rating category is the third highest of nine categories and includes obligations judged to be upper medium grade and subject to low credit risk.

The Baa rating category is the fourth highest of nine categories on the long-term rating scale and includes obligations judged to be medium grade and subject to moderate credit risk and as such may possess certain speculative characteristics.

The modifiers 1, 2 and 3 are used with certain long-term rating categories to indicate that an obligation ranks in the higher, middle or lower range of the rating category respectively.

S&P

The A-1 category is the highest of six categories used by S&P for short-term debt. An obligation rated A-1 indicates that the borrower’s capacity to meet its financial commitment with respect to the obligation is strong.

Issuer credit ratings are a forward-looking opinion about an obligor’s overall creditworthiness. This opinion focuses on the obligor’s capacity and willingness to meet its financial commitments as they come due. It does not apply to any specific financial obligation, as it does not take into account the nature of and provisions of the obligation, its standing in bankruptcy or liquidation, statutory preferences, or the legality and enforceability of the obligation. Issue or debt ratings are a forward-looking opinion about the creditworthiness of an obligor with respect to a specific financial obligation, a specific class of financial obligations, or a specific financial program (including ratings on medium-term note programs and commercial paper programs). It takes into consideration the creditworthiness of guarantors, insurers, or other forms of credit enhancement on the obligation and takes into account the currency in which the obligation is denominated.

The A rating category is the third highest of 10 categories used by S&P for long-term debt obligations. Although the obligor’s ability to meet its financial commitment is strong, obligations rated A are somewhat more vulnerable to the negative effects of changes in circumstances and economic conditions when compared to obligations in higher rating categories.

The BBB rating category is the fourth highest of 10 categories used by S&P for long-term debt obligations. The obligor’s ability to meet its financial commitment is adequate, however, adverse economic conditions or changes in circumstances are more likely to lead to a weakening of this capacity.

A “+” or “-” may be used to denote the relative standing of a rating within each category.

P-2 is the second highest of the eight categories used by S&P in its Canadian Preferred Share Scale, which is a forward-looking opinion about the creditworthiness of the issuer with respect to a specific preferred share obligation issued in Canada. A “high” or “low” modifier may be used to indicate the relative standing of a credit within a particular rating category, while the absence of such a modifier indicates a rating in the middle of the category.

CIBC2025**** Annual Information Form14