Rumors about a merger at Commerzbank

Author: Mario Schmidtgen
Date: 14.09.2018

Is Deutsche Bank taking over Commerzbank?

New rumors of a possible merger between Commerzbank and Deutsche Bank are spreading. The assumption was supported by a “Spiegel” report, since in addition to Federal Finance Minister Olaf Scholz (SPD), the management levels of the two banks are also open to a merger. Commerzbank boss Martin Zielke in particular should be in favor of the merger: “Zielke would rather do it today than tomorrow” an insider told “Spiegel”. Deutsche Bank CEO Christian Sewing, on the other hand, said that no merger will take place in the next 18 months. Currently Deutsche Bank has to handle many own tasks, such as the integration of Postbank.

The banks did not comment on the rumors. In general, a takeover would be advantageous for Commerzbank, as the stock market value of the company is currently only just over ten billion euros. However, specialists think that a takeover is unlikely at the moment due to the ongoing restructuring and the low margin.

Only last week Commerzbank experienced a setback on the stock exchange. After 30 years, the DAX founding member dropped out of Germany’s leading index. After the substantial price losses, Commerzbank’s value is too low to remain a member of the most important German stock exchange groups. The descent into the MDAX could mean the disappearance of important investors, especially money from index funds that only invest in the DAX. CEO Martin Zielke nevertheless remains confident: nothing will change for the importance of the bank.

Zielke is also working on the “Commerzbank 4.0” project to advance the bank’s digitalization. However, the online banking system is always affected by technical problems and annoys customers. In addition, the company shall be slimmed down: the workforce shall be reduced by around 7,000 jobs by 2020.