UniCredit expects to take control of Commerzbank by the end of November, earlier than initially anticipated, and begin changing how the German lender is run, its chief executive said.
The change would allow the Italian bank to begin applying the first phase of its operating plan at Commerzbank. The executive outlined the timetable on Bloomberg Television's “The Pulse,” published Nov. 9.
“We are on the back end of it in terms of moving to control,” he said. “This is expected to occur by the end of November.”
The timetable brings forward a step that has taken time to reach. He described the expected transfer of control as “a lot sooner than we thought initially,” without giving the previous target date.
The planned changes to governance would allow UniCredit to start implementing the opening phase of its business plan, called Unlocked. The company has already applied that approach across 13 banks, he said.
He also said UniCredit's underlying business had momentum and would probably perform better than the company had expected in its plan. He expected cooperation with Commerzbank to help improve the German bank's performance soon.
“So two things coming together at the right pace and hopefully as constructively as possible,” he said.
Asked about Commerzbank's board, he focused on securing support across the bank for the objectives UniCredit wants to pursue. He described agreement among employees and enthusiasm for those objectives as central to the company's approach.
“The rest is just governance,” he said. The aim was to bring Commerzbank's workforce behind an effort to make it the best bank in Germany, as UniCredit had sought to do elsewhere.
Discussions with the German government were continuing. Both sides viewed the talks as constructive and positive, he said, adding that UniCredit was open to agreeing on several matters important to Commerzbank and the government.
He expressed optimism about reaching agreement, but did not announce a completed deal. He described the discussions partly as providing reassurance that UniCredit would follow through on commitments it had already made.
Those discussions included location and listing commitments. He also described the transaction as an opportunity to transfer support and market share in corporate banking.
On the possible impact on employees, he said the numbers UniCredit had put forward were far below those previously rumoured. He gave no job-cut total in the remarks and said agreement on those issues should be achievable.
