Italian Banking Group Still Stalking Commerzbank – Media

Editorial Staff

7 November 2024

The CEO of Italy’s .

Andrea Orcel (pictured) has reportedly signalled that he has all the time in the world to win over stakeholders for his idea to acquire Frankfurt’s Commerzbank.

“It’s a long process,” Orcel said in an interview with Bloomberg. “We want to have the opportunity to convince all key stakeholders, including the government, that a possible combination creates value.”

On 11 September this year, UniCredit, headquartered in Milan, revealed that it had bought a 9 per cent chunk of the bank

The story points to how Germany’s banking sector, comprising a handful of big names such as Deutsche and Commerzbank, and a long tail of smaller organisations, is arguably ripe for consolidation, while authorities may want to see competition.

Yesterday, UniCredit reported a third-quarter 2024 net profit of €2.5 billion ($2.68 billion), a gain of 8 per cent on the same period a year earlier. The bank said it had a "strong" Common Equity Tier 1 ratio at 16.1 per cent. The Milan-based bank has also raised its 2024 net profit guidance to above €9 billion. Meanwhile, this week, Commerzbank reported a pre-tax profit result of €885 million, falling 20.1 per cent on a year earlier. Speculation of a takeover has turbocharged Commerzbank’s share price: Since the start of January, the price has soared by 47.2 per cent, although prices dropped almost 3 per cent yesterday, affected, reports said, by concerns about a rise in provisions for credit losses.

Commerzbank CEO Bettina Orlopp wants to persuade investors that the firm fares better as an independent bank.

In September this year, it was reported that Deutsche’s CEO Christian Sewing and his colleagues have explored ideas such as buying part or all of the German government’s remaining 12 per cent stake in Commerzbank. (The stake is a legacy from when the German state bailed the bank out in the 2008 global financial crash.)

Commerzbank, which is the second-largest listed bank in Germany, provides services including private lending; UniCredit also has private banking and wealth management services.