Bettina Orlopp, chief financial officer of Commerzbank AG, speaks during the fourth quarter earnings press conference at the bank’s headquarters in Frankfurt, Germany, Thursday, February 13, 2020.
Alex Kraus Bloomberg Getty Images
Commerzbank announced Tuesday that it has appointed 10-year veteran and current Chief Financial Officer Bettina Orlopp to lead the bank as chief executive as it seeks to fend off a potential hostile takeover by Italian bank UniCredit.
The bank has become defensive as UniCredit appears to be its largest shareholder, signaling a potential full takeover.
Earlier this month, the Milan-based bank started building its shareholding with a 9% stake in Commerzbank. UniCredit then announced this week that it had acquired additional Commerzbank shares, taking its stake in the German lender to around 21%, and submitted a request to increase its holding to 29.9%.
Senior officials at Commerzbank and the German government, which was the company’s largest shareholder until UniCredit stepped in, both said they opposed a hostile takeover. Orlopp will now be responsible for leading the fight.
Commerzbank said in a statement late Tuesday that its supervisory board directed current Chief Executive Manfred Knof to hand over his duties to Orlopp, “in the foreseeable future.” The company added that the board agreed with Orlopp’s approval to succeed Knof after searching for internal and external candidates.
Orlopp’s contract is set for five years, Commerzbank said, noting that the search for his replacement as CFO is ongoing.
Orlopp said he is “looking forward to this new challenge,” while also noting that “important tasks still lie ahead.”
“Together with all our key partners, we will be able to successfully overcome the challenges ahead,” he said.
Need a ‘credible CEO’
Since March 2020, Orlopp has been the CFO of Commerzbank, covering the finance, investor relations, tax and treasury departments, according to his bio on the bank’s website. Most recently he was also the deputy chairman of the board of directors of the German bank, a position he held from 2021.
The 54-year-old banker first joined Commerzbank in 2014 as a divisional board member for group development and strategy. Since then, Orlopp has served as a member of the executive board and then as a member of the board of directors overseeing areas including compliance, legal and human resources.
Before he was at Commerzbank, Orlopp worked at McKinsey for 19 years. He has a diploma in business administration from the University of Regensburg, where he also completed a doctorate in finance.
Orlopp told reporters last week that the current developments with UniCredit were unexpected, but called for calm.
“We are all very surprised by the process,” he said according to Reuters. “That’s why the most important thing now is to solve it calmly, think about what is on the table now and how to solve it,” he said.
Other officials at Commerzbank have more directly expressed their concerns about their relationship with the Italian bank. Stefan Wittman, a member of the supervisory board at Commerzbank, told CNBC on Tuesday “of course we hope to avoid” a hostile takeover and warned that large job losses could occur if UniCredit takes over.
This is not Orlopp’s first time at Commerzbank. He was at the bank when it started the restructuring process in 2016 and during the merger consideration, including interest from Deutsche Bank in 2018 and 2019.
When Orlopp became CFO in 2020, the bank faced pressure from US private equity group Cerberus, which at the time held a 5% stake in Commerzbank, according to Reuters. Activist investors are demanding personnel and strategy – including cost-cutting – changes at the German lender.
Pressure from shareholders to cut costs saw the CEO and chairman of the supervisory board at the time, resign from their posts. Knof was later named CEO in 2020 and officially assumed the role in 2021.
Thomas Schweppe, the founder of 7Square, told CNBC on Wednesday that he believes the decision to make Orlopp CEO was made quickly. “The situation is untenable. You cannot defend a company without a reliable CEO,” he said.
Orlopp’s extensive experience at Commerzbank will allow him to step up, which is “very important,” Schweppe said.
“At the same time obviously he has been part of some decisions that potentially lead to, you know, the difficult situation Commerzbank finds itself in now,” he added.
