Published by Global Banking & Finance Review®
Posted on April 20, 2026
1 min readLast updated: April 20, 2026
Add as preferred source on GoogleGerman SPD lawmaker Armand Zorn opposes UniCredit’s €35 bn takeover bid for Commerzbank, but insists that if a deal proceeds, the merged bank must be headquartered in Frankfurt to ensure German economic oversight.
BERLIN, April 20 (Reuters) - A German lawmaker on Monday voiced opposition to a takeover of Commerzbank by Italy's UniCredit but said if a deal were to happen, the combined bank should be based in Frankfurt.
• The lawmaker is Armand Zorn, a Social Democrat representing Frankfurt in Germany's parliament.
• This takeover is the wrong path for Commerzbank and for Germany as a banking hub, he said in a statement to Reuters.
• "Should a transaction nevertheless take place contrary to our position, then the headquarters would have to be in Frankfurt, because that is where the business focus, the responsibility for the German economy, and thus also the center of decision-making and supervision would have to be," he said.
• Earlier on Monday, UniCredit CEO Andrea Orcel held an unscheduled analyst call after announcing a set of measures Commerzbank should adopt to improve its performance.
(Reporting by Christian Kraemer; writing by Tom SimsEditing by Tomasz Janowski)
The lawmaker is Armand Zorn, a Social Democrat representing Frankfurt in Germany's parliament.
He believes the takeover is the wrong path for Commerzbank and for Germany as a banking hub.
He insists that the combined bank's headquarters must remain in Frankfurt.
Frankfurt is where business focus, responsibility for the German economy, and decision-making should reside.
The CEO of UniCredit is Andrea Orcel.
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