UniCredit's equity stake in Germany's Commerzbank edged up to 20.17% from 19.20%, a filing showed on Tuesday, as the Italian bank pushes for a tie-up between the two lenders.
UniCredit's recent push for a tie-up with Commerzbank has prompted calls by a top official of the German bank for the Italian lender's CEO, Andrea Orcel, to abandon the pursuit.
The UniCredit CEO stressed that UniCredit is presently "far away" from a merger bid with Commerzbank and would first seek a "constructive solution" to opposition from the German government.
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz criticised UniCredit's effort to build up a stake in Commerzbank on Tuesday, saying that the Italian lender's approach was unacceptable.
Germany does not expect Italy's UniCredit to launch a full bid for German rival Commerzbank at present, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said on Saturday.
Some 200 Commerzbank employees protested early Thursday against a possible takeover of the German lender by UniCredit.
Commerzbank's priority is the execution of its own strategy and that markets can see what the lender can achieve as a standalone company, CEO Bettina Orlopp plans to tell shareholders at an annual meeting this week.
Commerzbank derived 67% of its Q1 2025 revenue from net interest income—a key concern amid ECB rate cuts. Segment performance was particularly strong at mBank, which saw lower FX mortgage provisions. Commerzbank's return on tangible equity improved year-over-year but is set to decline as the bank books restructuring charges.
Commerzbank AG (OTCPK:CRZBF) Q1 2025 Earnings Conference Call May 9, 2025 3:00 AM ET Company Participants Bettina Orlopp – Chief Executive Officer Carsten Schmitt – Chief Financial Officer Conference Call Participants Jeremy Sigee – BNP Paribas Exane Benjamin Goy – Deutsche Bank Kian Abouhossein – JPMorgan Stefan Stalmann – Autonomous Johannes Thormann – HSBC Borja Ramirez – Citi Tobias Lukesch – Kepler Cheuvreux Tarik El Mejjad – Bank of America Riccardo Rovere – Mediobanca Jochen Schmitt – Metzler Operator Hello, and welcome to the Commerzbank AG Conference Call regarding the First Quarter Results 2025. Please note that this call is being transmitted as well as recorded by audio webcast and will subsequently be made available for replay in the Internet.
Earnings and revenue for the first quarter exceeded analyst expectations, after higher commission income offset a decline in interest income.
Commerzbank's supervisory board created a special committee to discuss UniCredit's stake in the German lender and met five times in 2024, Commerzbank disclosed on Wednesday in its annual report.
Commerzbank hasn't had talks with UniCredit since the Italian lender last week got approval from the European Central Bank for taking a stake of just under 30%, Commerzbank CEO Bettina Orlopp said on Thursday.