Banken: Unicredit will bei Commerzbank schnell durchregieren und Chefin Orlopp loswerden

Italian banking giant Unicredit aims to quickly gain control over Commerzbank and remove Chief Executive Bettina Orlopp, according to a person familiar with the situation. The bank intends to exchange the capital side of the supervisory board and eventually the head of the board, Orlopp, at an extraordinary shareholders' meeting if it receives approval from European bank regulators to increase its share in Commerzbank from nearly 30 to nearly 50 percent.

This could happen as early as January or February of next year. Unicredit's CEO, Andrea Orcel, plans to request this extraordinary shareholders' meeting. The trade union Verdi strongly reacted against these plans, calling them "a bad signal for the bank location in Germany and Europe, especially for the employees of both institutions."

Verdi pledges to protect the employees in this situation. Unicredit and Commerzbank did not comment on a new timetable for the takeover of control, which had previously been reported by the "Financial Times." This timetable aligns with previous statements from Orcel, who plans to take control of Commerzbank by early 2027 to significantly transform Germany's second-largest private bank.

Exchanging the entire capital side of the supervisory board, including Finance Director Jens Weidmann, would, however, ignore a demand from the German government. Finance Minister Lars Klingbeil had previously asked Orcel during a meeting in Berlin in mid-September that the Bund should continue to have two representatives in Commerzbank's supervisory board.

The Bund has been involved in Commerzbank since the 2008 financial crisis, owning about 13 percent and being the second-largest shareholder. Orcel and Orlopp had previously advocated for the independence of Commerzbank, but Orlopp abandoned this position in the summer. It is now clear that Unicredit will soon control almost 50 percent of the shares, giving them the majority at the next shareholders' meeting.

Orlopp and the German government, however, intend to try to secure the maximum for Commerzbank and Germany in talks with Orcel. The government is irritated, but sees a common basis.