Commerzbank AG chief executive officer Bettina Orlopp vowed to boost earnings in an effort to demonstrate the bank is better on its own, a day after receiving a takeover bid from UniCredit SpA.
"We are currently thinking about accelerating” the process of raising Commerzbank’s profitability, Orlopp said in a Bloomberg TV interview on Tuesday in London. "That is in the interest of all shareholders.”
The comments follow a low-ball €35bn ($40bn) offer for Commerzbank from UniCredit CEO Andrea Orcel on Monday, demonstrating how Orlopp is seeking to project confidence in her standalone strategy for the German lender. She can also count on the backing from the German government, which on Monday reiterated its opposition to a takeover by UniCredit.
Orlopp said last month that full-year profit is expected to exceed the previous outlook of €3.2bn. "Our existing guidance should be considered as a floor,” a company spokesman clarified after the Tuesday interview. "We signaled at the time that we see considerable upside potential.”
Speaking at the Morgan Stanley European Financials conference later on Tuesday, Orlopp said that the lender’s targets for profitability and costs should be seen as the minimum she plans to achieve. Commerzbank is currently targeting a return on tangible equity of 15% by 2028, and a cost-to-income ratio of 50%.
"It is very likely that this is more a floor when it comes to the RoTE, and a cap when it comes to the cost-income ratio, given the movement we currently see and given also what we see already for 2026,” she said.
Commerzbank rose as much as 1.6% in Frankfurt trading, extending Monday’s 8.6% rally.
With a premium of just 4% over the Friday close, Orcel’s bid is only designed to push UniCredit’s stake past 30% while not giving it full control of Commerzbank. The Italian lender can subsequently choose to buy more shares in the German firm on the open market without triggering a legal requirement to make a bid, which otherwise would have happened when crossing the 30% threshold.
"This is an offer at a very low price,” Orlopp said in the interview.
Under Orlopp, who took over just weeks after Orcel first disclosed an interest in buying Commerzbank in late 2024, the German firm has taken strides in cutting costs and delivering higher shareholder returns. The lender’s share price has roughly doubled since she took over, though it’s down more than 10% since the beginning of the year.
Orcel said his latest move is intended to open a "constructive dialog” with Commerzbank. Orlopp suggested at the Morgan Stanley conference that the bid was a tactical move, and said she was surprised UniCredit still hasn’t made a concrete proposal how it wants to create value through a deal.
"One would expect that someone who has moved now so far has something in the drawer,” she said. "If we get a proposal, and we sit down and this proposal makes sense, we will recommend that.”