Commerzbank, Orlopp: ready to sit down with UniCredit but recognise premium and strength of our business model

"We always remain open to discussions with UniCredit, but we have two key demands. First, that we take into account the strength of our business model and network. Secondly, it makes no sense for our shareholders to give up their Commerzbank shares and the growth potential they bring without a premium.' These are the words of the managing director of the German bank, Bettina Orlopp, during the conference call presenting the quarterly accounts. 'Apart from that, we are always willing to sit down again' at the table, she added.

Commerzbank , meanwhile, plans to cut approximately another 3,000 jobs group-wide. "This reduction is partly offset by targeted recruitment in selected growth and future-oriented areas," the bank explains. At the same time, the institution intends to exploit the potential of artificial intelligence even more. In the period from 2026 to 2030, the bank plans to invest a total of around EUR 600 million in this area. In May 2021, the bank reached a agreement for 10,000 redundancies, equivalent to one-third of its German workforce, and last year announced the cutting of a further 3,900 employees.

Meanwhile, Commerzbank continues to defend itself with quarterly reports against the attempted takeover by Unicredit. Germany's second-largest bank presented this morning record-breaking results for the first three months of the year, which enabled it - along with another cut of 3,000 employees - to revise upwards its estimates for 2026 and also its strategic targets for 2028 and 2030.

Q1 2026 closed with operating profit up 11%, to a record 1.4 billion, and net profit of 913 million, better than expected; revenues up 5% (3.2 billion), expense ratio improved 3% to 53% and net RoTE at 12.7% (+1.6%). Looking ahead, CEO Bettina Orlopp revised the targets for 2030 to a marked improvement with RoTE at 21% (17% in 2028) and RoE at 23%, cost/income at 43% (48% in 2028) revenues of EUR 16.8 billion (15 in 2028) and net profit of EUR 5.9 billion (EUR 4.6 billion in 2028).

It remains to be seen whether this improvement in profit, RoTE and the cost-to-income ratio will be enough to convince Commerz shareholdersto not join the voluntary Public Exchange Offer of shares launched by Unicredit on 5 May and running for a period of up to four to six weeks. In the presentation of his transformation plan 'Commerz Unlocked', Unicredit's CEO Andrea Orcel pointed to more ambitious results in 2030 for Germany's second-largest bank: costs/revenues at 37% (with plans to cut 7,000 employees and lighten the international network) RoTE at 23%.