2024-09-25 22:25:09
Against the backdrop of an impending takeover by the Italian Unicredit, Commerzbank is making an early appointment to its top management. Chief Financial Officer Orlopp is to take over the top job.
In the midst of the takeover battle with Unicredit, Commerzbank is reappointing its top management. The supervisory board has decided to appoint CFO Bettina Orlopp as CEO, the Frankfurt-based institute announced. She is to replace the current CEO Manfred Knof “in the near future”. At the same time, Corporate Banking Director Michael Kotzbauer will become the bank’s new deputy CEO. The timing of the change was not disclosed.
With Orlopp, “an ideal successor has been found at the top of Commerzbank,” said Supervisory Board Chairman Jens Weidmann. “Especially in the bank’s current phase, clear responsibilities are crucial. My sincere thanks go to Manfred Knof, without whose assertiveness and strategic vision the bank would not be as successful today.”
At the beginning of September, the Frankfurt-based DAX group surprisingly announced that 59-year-old Knof would fulfill his contract, which expires at the end of 2025, but would not extend it. He has led the bank since 2021 and had pushed ahead with the restructuring of Commerzbank – including the elimination of thousands of jobs. Under his leadership, the bank managed to turn things around and achieved record profits in 2023, thanks in part to the rise in interest rates.
But when the major Italian bank Unicredit entered the market shortly afterwards and took over Commerzbank, Germany’s second-largest private bank came under pressure. Major investors such as the fund company Deka pushed for a speedy resolution of the management board issue. Commerzbank needed clarity in this critical phase, they said.
Unicredit recently made a surprise large-scale investment in Commerzbank. The Italians recently secured the option to further increase their stake in Commerzbank from 9 to 21 percent via financial instruments.
This would make Unicredit by far the largest shareholder – ahead of the federal government, which holds around 12 percent. At the same time, Unicredit applied for official permission to increase its share to up to 29.9 percent. This makes an official takeover offer for Commerzbank more likely.
The federal government has decided not to sell any more Commerzbank shares until further notice. The federal government rejects Unicredit’s takeover attempt. Federal Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) spoke of an “unfriendly attack”.
Orlopp has long been considered a hot candidate to succeed Knof. The former Vice-CEO has been working for Commerzbank since 2014 and has been a member of the Board of Management since autumn 2017. Before that, she was a partner at the management consultancy McKinsey. The doctor of business administration and mother of two children once described herself as a “loyal soul” because she has only worked for two employers in her career.
“I am looking forward to this challenging task, which I will take on with respect, but also with great self-confidence and an outstanding management team at my side,” said Orlopp. “We have a strategy that is working, but we still have big tasks ahead of us.”
Orlopp and Kotzbauer will receive a five-year contract when they take up their positions, Commerzbank explained. The Supervisory Board has initiated a selection process to fill the role of Chief Financial Officer. For the transition period after the handover, Orlopp will continue to assume the role of Chief Financial Officer.