Published by Global Banking & Finance Review®
Posted on September 17, 2025
2 min readLast updated: January 21, 2026
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Commerzbank's CEO warns of revenue loss from a potential merger with UniCredit, labeling the approach as unfriendly and risky.
FRANKFURT (Reuters) - Commerzbank CEO Bettina Orlopp on Wednesday labelled UniCredit's approach for a potential merger as "unfriendly" and said that any deal would likely hurt revenue.
Orlopp also said a focus on cutting costs under any deal would not be easy or free of risk.
The comments underscore the scepticism by the German lender of a deal that would reshape German finance and has been pushed for by UniCredit over the past year.
Orlopp, speaking at a financial conference, said a tie-up with UniCredit's German unit HVB would be between two players with similar business models, resulting in "revenue attrition because there is heavy overlap on the corporate client side".
A focus on cost synergies "requires really a lot of work, attention, time, and money to achieve that, specifically when it comes to a rather unfriendly large-scale transaction," Orlopp said.
UniCredit's CEO Andrea Orcel by contrast has argued the benefits of a merger since the Italian bank began building up its Commerzbank stake a year ago.
Speaking earlier at the same conference, Orcel said he hoped Commerzbank "would see the light over time".
(Reporting by Tom Sims, Editing by Miranda Murray and Ludwig Burger)
Commerzbank CEO Bettina Orlopp described UniCredit's merger approach as 'unfriendly' and indicated that any deal would likely hurt revenue.
Orlopp mentioned that focusing on cost synergies in a merger would require significant effort, attention, time, and money, especially in an unfriendly transaction.
UniCredit's CEO Andrea Orcel has been advocating for the merger, expressing hope that Commerzbank would eventually recognize the benefits over time.
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