Commerzbank mentioned on Wednesday that Manfred Knof would step down as CEO of Germany’s second-biggest lender sooner than deliberate, amid discuss of a possible takeover by Italian rival UniCredit.
Knof, 59, will depart the Frankfurt-based financial institution on the finish of September, in keeping with a gaggle assertion. He will likely be changed by Commerzbank’s chief monetary officer, Bettina Orlopp, who will develop into the primary lady to guide the financial institution.
Commerzbank mentioned this month that Knof had determined to not prolong his contract past the top of 2025.
Immediately after Knof’s announcement, Italian lender UniCredit shocked markets by saying it had taken a significant stake in Commerzbank. UniCredit subsequently elevated its holding to round 21%, turning into Commerzbank’s largest shareholder.
The Italian financial institution’s strikes have set off hypothesis that it may attempt to take over Commerzbank, main consolidation within the European monetary sector.
The announcement of Knof’s early departure comes amid the hypothesis.
Now was the “right time” handy over to Orlopp, Knof mentioned within the assertion.
Knof, who steered the German lender by a painful restructuring, had “brought Commerzbank back on the track of success through consistent and determined action,” Jens Weidmann, supervisory board chair, mentioned.
In a earlier assertion, Orlopp mentioned that “significant tasks lie ahead” for Commerzbank.
“Together with all our key partners, we will navigate through the challenges ahead of us successfully,” she mentioned.
UniCredit not looking for seat on Commerzbank board
UniCredit CEO Andrea Orcel mentioned Wednesday his group wouldn’t search a seat on the Commerzbank’s supervisory board.
“I think it’s inappropriate for us to have a board seat, because we’re also a competitor,” Orcel informed a convention organised by Bank of America in London.
UniCredit’s method has unsettled the Berlin authorities, which nonetheless has a 12% stake in Commerzbank following a 2008 bailout.
Chancellor Olaf Scholz on Monday warned that “unfriendly attacks, hostile takeovers are not a good thing for banks.”
The German authorities, from whom UniCredit introduced a few of its not too long ago acquired shares, has paused gross sales of its Commerzbank stake.
A German Finance Ministry official informed Agence France Presse (AFP) that Berlin had “communicated” to UniCredit that “we do not support a takeover.”
Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani mentioned that Europe had a free market with guidelines and that “it seems to me that Unicredit has respected them.”
“Commerzbank, for us at the moment, is an investment, nothing else. There is no offer,” UniCredit’s Orcel mentioned on Wednesday.
“We are indeed a large shareholder, a strategic shareholder now, but it is an investment,” he added.
Source: www.dailysabah.com