15 February 2024, Hesse, Frankfurt/M.: The lettering “Commerzbank” may be seen on the Commerzbank Tower within the heart of the banking metropolis. Boosted by the turnaround in rates of interest, Commerzbank is aiming for one more revenue improve after a report 12 months. Picture: Helmut Fricke/dpa (Picture by Helmut Fricke/image alliance by way of Getty Photographs)
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Two-thirds of the roles at Commerzbank may disappear if UniCredit efficiently carries out a hostile takeover of the German lender, a Commerzbank supervisory board member warned on Tuesday.
Stefan Wittmann, who can be a senior official at German commerce union Verdi, instructed CNBC’s Annette Weisbach that “we actually hope we will keep away from” a hostile takeover by the Italian financial institution. Witmann mentioned Commerzbank’s board had referred to as on the German authorities to hold out an inner overview of the attainable takeover, which he hopes will give the financial institution a six-month interval to take inventory of the state of affairs.
“But when it [a hostile takeover] is unavoidable, we predict that two-thirds of jobs will disappear, that there might be one other important lower within the branches,” he mentioned, based on a translation.
“We are going to see specifically that UniCredit doesn’t need all Commerzbank prospects in any respect, however that it focuses on the supposedly finest prospects, specifically the rich prospects,” he added.
Berlin, which was the most important shareholder of Commerzbank after it injected 18.2 billion euros ($20.2 billion) to rescue the lender throughout the 2008 monetary disaster, is prone to play a key position in any potential merger between the banks.
“We are literally involved with our financial and industrial duty. So far as the workforce is worried, which commerce unions are after all notably targeted on, they’d all the time lose out within the merger, whatever the time limit,” Wittmann mentioned. The financial institution has but to answer a request for touch upon Wittmann’s statements.
UniCredit introduced Monday it had elevated its stake within the German lender to round 21% and submitted a request to spice up that holding to as much as 29.9%, signaling a takeover bid may be within the playing cards. Earlier this month, the Italian financial institution took a 9% stake in Commerzbank, confirming that half of this shareholding was acquired from the German authorities.
UniCredit believes substantial worth may be unlocked inside Commerzbank, Germany’s second-largest lender, however it mentioned that additional motion is required for that worth to be “crystalized.”
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz criticized UniCredit’s transfer on Monday, saying, “unfriendly assaults, hostile takeovers usually are not a great factor for banks and that’s the reason the German authorities has clearly positioned itself on this course,” Reuters reported.
‘Very tense’
Commerzbank’s supervisory board is because of meet this week to debate UniCredit’s stake, individuals acquainted with the matter who requested to stay nameless beforehand instructed CNBC.
Wittmann mentioned the temper is at present “very tense” throughout the firm, including that the financial institution was shocked by UniCredit’s announcement on Monday, which he described as a “180 degree-turn inside 48 hours.”
“[UniCredit CEO Andrea Orcel] final spoke on Friday that he needed a pleasant takeover in settlement with all stakeholders and politicians. And yesterday we have been shocked by his hostile takeover try. That does not add up,” Wittmann mentioned.
The supervisory board member defined that the 2 foremost causes to treat a possible merger in a vital mild are the shortage of a banking union in Europe, and the truth that UniCredit has “absorbed itself with Italian authorities bonds in recent times.”
He questioned what would possibly occur ought to geopolitical tensions or “upheavals” affect UniCredit’s availability of capital to finance Commerzbank’s trade.
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 throughout the area.
Economist and former European Central Financial institution Governor Mario Draghi flagged in a current report that banks in Europe face regulatory hurdles which “constrain their capability to lend,” additionally citing the “incomplete” banking union as one issue that impacts competitiveness for the area’s banks.
“We now have all the time spoken out, together with as worker representatives on the Supervisory Board, that there can and must be mergers at [a] European degree, however solely when the banking union is in place. And that’s simply our second level of criticism, that we are saying: create the foundations of the sport and the guardrails first, after which do it sensibly when it’s clear which taking part in area we’re on,” Wittmann mentioned.