February 15, 2024, Hesse, Frankfurt/M.: The “Commerzbank” signal will be seen on the Commerzbank Tower within the heart of the banking metropolis. Buoyed by the turnaround in rates of interest, Commerzbank is aiming for an additional improve in revenue after a document 12 months. Picture: Helmut Fricke/dpa (Picture by Helmut Fricke/image alliance through Getty Photos)
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Two-thirds of the roles in Commerzbank could disappear if UniCredit is efficiently finishing up a hostile takeover of the German lender, a member of Commerzbank’s supervisory board warned on Tuesday.
Stefan Wittmann, who can be a senior official at Germany’s Verdi union, instructed CNBC’s Annette Weissbach that “we definitely hope we are able to keep away from” a hostile takeover by the Italian financial institution. Wittmann stated Commerzbank’s board had known as on the German authorities to conduct an inside assessment of the potential takeover, which he hoped would give the financial institution a six-month interval to assessment the scenario.
“But when [a hostile takeover] is inevitable, we expect that two-thirds of jobs will disappear, that there might be one other vital downsizing of industries,” he stated, based on a translation.
“We are going to see specifically that UniCredit doesn’t need all of Commerzbank’s prospects in any respect, however that it focuses on the supposed greatest prospects, particularly the rich prospects,” he added.
Berlin, which was Commerzbank’s largest shareholder after injecting 18.2 billion euros ($20.2 billion) to bail out the lender in the course of the 2008 monetary disaster, is prone to play a key function in any potential merger between banks.
“We are literally involved about our financial and industrial duty. As for the workforce, which the unions are after all notably targeted on, they’re at all times going to lose out in a merger, whatever the timing,” Whitman stated. The financial institution has not but responded to a request for touch upon Wittmann’s statements.
UniCredit introduced Monday that it has increased its stake in the German lender to round 21% and filed to extend that stake to 29.9%, signaling a takeover bid might be within the works. Earlier this month, the Italian financial institution took a 9% share in Commerzbank, confirming that half of this stake was acquired by the German authorities.
UniCredit believes vital worth will be unlocked inside Commerzbank, Germany’s second-biggest lender, however stated additional motion is required for that worth to be “crystallised”.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz criticized UniCredit’s transfer on Monday, saying “unfriendly assaults, hostile takeovers will not be a superb factor for banks, and so the German authorities has clearly positioned itself in that path,” Reuters reported.
“Very tense”
Commerzbank’s supervisory board is because of meet this week to debate UniCredit’s case, based on individuals aware of the matter who spoke on situation of anonymity. previously told CNBC.
Wittmann stated the temper was presently “very tense” on the firm, including that the financial institution was shocked by UniCredit’s announcement on Monday, which he described as a “180-degree turnaround inside 48 hours”.
“[UniCredit CEO Andrea Orcel] final spoke on Friday that it wished a pleasant takeover in settlement with all stakeholders and politicians. And yesterday we have been shocked by his hostile takeover try. It does not add up,” Whitman stated.
The member of the supervisory board defined that the 2 primary causes to view a possible merger in a vital mild are the shortage of a banking union in Europe and the truth that UniCredit has “wolfed up Italian authorities bonds in recent times”.
He questioned what would possibly occur if geopolitical tensions or “upheavals” affected UniCredit’s availability of capital to finance Commerzbank’s business.
In response to the 2008 monetary disaster, the European Fee introduced plans to create a banking union to enhance the regulation and supervision of banks within the area.
Economist and former European Central Financial institution Governor Mario Draghi famous in a latest report that banks in Europe face regulatory hurdles that “constrain their capability to lend”, additionally citing the “incomplete” banking union as an element affecting the competitiveness of banks within the area.
“We’ve got at all times stated, together with as representatives of staff on the Supervisory Board, that there can and must be mergers of [a] European stage, however solely when the banking union is in place. And that is simply our second level of criticism that we’re saying: first create the foundations of the sport and the safeguards, after which do it sensibly when it is clear what sort of enjoying discipline we’re on,” Whitman stated.
