Andrea Orcel: The banker who boxes – who is the manager that is swallowing Commerzbank?

Andrea Orcel can laugh heartily and engagingly when amused. On a mid-July afternoon, he joined a video conference from his office in Milan, wearing a red tie with a pale blue shirt, as always - and is highly amused: for half a minute, he laughs, almost curling up in his chair. Yet the question was obvious, and which journalist would miss the opportunity to ask it these days: what does his management style have to do with the sports he favors?

Orcel skis. And water skis. And he boxes. The banker composes himself, says for the record that there are "not many parallels," he pursues these sports "because I really want to switch off from work in my free time." Water skiing or boxing works particularly well for him because he has to "completely focus on what I'm doing." Otherwise, he risks falling - or "taking a hit from my opponent."

Negotiations could soon begin Orcel boxes, then. Of course. Likes to deal out. Round by round. Until the opponent is counted out. He can punch his winner's fist. That's how one imagines it: Orcel has chased Commerzbank through the ring and knocked it down, the financial institution that resisted for a long time, and the federal government along with it, which underestimated his fighting spirit, his willingness to fight.