Commerzbank Chief Financial Officer Bettina Orlop speaks during a fourth-quarter earnings press conference at the bank's headquarters in Frankfurt, Germany, Thursday, February 13, 2020.
Alex Krauss | Bloomberg | Getty Images
Commerzbank said on Tuesday it had chosen its current chief financial officer, Bettina Orlop, a 10-year veteran, as its new chief executive officer in a bid to thwart a possible hostile takeover by Italian bank UniCredit.
The bank is on the defensive as UniCredit is seeking to become the bank's largest shareholder and has hinted at a possible outright takeover.
Earlier this month, the Milan-based lender began increasing its stake in Commerzbank by acquiring a 9% stake, after UniCredit this week said it had acquired additional shares in the bank, bringing its stake to around 21%, and had submitted an application to increase its stake to 29.9%.
Both Commerzbank executives and the German government, which was the bank's largest shareholder before UniCredit stepped in, have said they oppose a hostile takeover. Mr. Orlop will now be in charge of leading the fight.
Commerzbank said The company said in a statement late Tuesday that its supervisory board aims for current CEO Manfred Knof to hand over the role to Orlop in the “near future.” The board unanimously agreed that Orlop should succeed Knof after searching both internally and externally for a candidate, the company added.
Commerzbank noted that Orlop's contract is for five years and that the selection of a successor as CFO is still underway.
“I look forward to this new challenge,” Orlopp said, but added that “significant challenges lie ahead.”
“Together with all our key partners, we will successfully navigate the challenges ahead,” she said.
The Need for a “Credible CEO”
March 2020 onwardsAs CFO of Commerzbank, Orlop was responsible for the finance, investor relations, tax and treasury departments. Bank website bioHe recently served as Vice Chairman of the Board of Directors of a German bank. 2021 and beyond.
Orlop, a 54-year-old banker, joined Commerzbank in 2014 as director of group development and strategy. Since then, he has served as an executive officer and then as a member of the board of management, overseeing areas such as compliance, legal and human resources.
Prior to joining Commerzbank, Mr. Orlop worked at McKinsey for 19 years. He holds a degree in Business Administration from the University of Regensburg, where he also holds a PhD in Finance.
Orlop told reporters last week that UniCredit's current developments were unexpected but urged calm.
“We've all been so amazed by this process,” she said. Reuters“That's why the most important thing now is to calmly sort things out, and think about what the issues are and how to deal with them,” she added.
Other Commerzbank executives have been more outspoken in expressing their concerns about the Italian bank's partnership. Stefan Wittmann, a Commerzbank auditor, said on Tuesday He told CNBC “We are confident we can avoid a hostile takeover,” it said, warning that a takeover by UniCredit could mean major job losses.
This is not Orlop's first difficult period at Commerzbank: He was there when the bank began its restructuring process in 2016 and through a period of merger discussions that included interest from Deutsche Bank in 2018 and 2019.
When Orlop became chief financial officer in 2020, the bank was facing pressure from Cerberus, the U.S. private equity group that held about 5% of Commerzbank at the time, according to Reuters. The activist investor called on the German bank to make changes to its workforce and strategy, including cost-cutting.
Pressure from shareholders to cut costs led to the resignation of the CEO and chairman of the supervisory board. Appointed CEO He was appointed in 2020 and officially took up his post in 2021.
7Square founder Thomas Schweppe told CNBC on Wednesday that it was important that the decision to appoint Orlopp as CEO was made quickly. “The situation is intolerable. Without a credible CEO, we cannot protect the company,” he said.
Schweppe said Orlop's extensive experience at Commerzbank would enable him to hit the ground running immediately, which he called “very important.”
“At the same time, as you know, it is clear that she was involved in some decisions that may have led to the difficult situation that Commerzbank now finds itself in,” he added.
