(Update: statements from analyst conference, details on job cuts, return targets, reaction to Unicredit plans, background, share price reaction, analyst commentary)
FRANKFURT (dpa-AFX) - Commerzbank aims to convince investors of its independent future and ward off a hostile takeover by Unicredit through further job cuts and rising profits. Approximately 3,000 additional full-time positions will be eliminated group-wide by 2030, the Dax-listed group announced in Frankfurt. However, Commerzbank shares trended lower following the news.
In morning trading, the stock was down 1.3 percent at 36.43 euros, making it one of the weaker performers in the Dax, after its price had climbed to over 37.50 euros at times in recent days. In the first quarter of 2026, Commerzbank performed better than analysts had expected. However, industry expert Anke Reingen from the Canadian bank RBC described the Frankfurt-based lender's targets for the coming years as ambitious.
Regarding Unicredit's takeover bid on Tuesday, Commerzbank argues that the Italians' plans would lead to far more extensive job cuts. The Milan-based institution, which controls nearly 30 percent of Commerzbank shares, intends to secure further stakes via an exchange offer by June 16 and has presented a restructuring plan in the event of a takeover.
Best start to the year since 2011
Commerzbank CEO Bettina Orlopp, who along with her team has been resisting a takeover for over a year and a half, sees her course validated by the best start to a year since 2011: 'We started the year with record-level results. This proves: our strategy is working - and has more potential than originally planned.' Any alternative must be measured against this. 'Unicredit's plans do not survive the reality check,' Orlopp said during a conference call.
In the first quarter of 2026, Commerzbank performed better than a year earlier. With an operating result of approximately 1.36 billion euros and a net profit of 913 million euros, the Frankfurt bank exceeded the prior-year quarter by about ten percent in each case, also beating analyst expectations.
Profits expected to rise steadily
For 2026, Commerzbank expects higher profits than previously anticipated under its revised strategy ('Momentum 2030'): it is now targeting a net profit of at least 3.4 billion euros, 200 million euros more than before. By 2028, the result is expected to rise more sharply than previously planned to 4.6 billion euros, with a bottom line of 5.9 billion euros targeted for 2030.
The return on tangible equity (RoTE) would thus reach approximately 21 percent by the end of the decade. For 2026, Orlopp is now targeting around 12 percent, and for 2028, it is also expected to be higher than previously announced at around 17 percent.
In the full year 2025, despite high costs for an ongoing job reduction program, the bank narrowly missed the 2024 record profit (nearly 2.7 billion euros) with a bottom line of just over 2.6 billion euros.
Unicredit applies pressure
Unicredit CEO Andrea Orcel has been campaigning for a takeover since acquiring a stake in Commerzbank in September 2024 and recently publicly criticized what he views as years of 'subpar operating performance' at Commerzbank. Without a strategic realignment, he argued, the institution's survival is at risk in the medium term. Unicredit, which operates in Germany through Hypovereinsbank (HVB), presented a restructuring program for the event of a Commerzbank takeover, according to which approximately 7,000 full-time positions would be cut in Germany.
Commerzbank management rejects Unicredit's plans as vague and dangerous. 'Such extensive job cuts would impair the German business,' the Frankfurt-based lender wrote in a presentation. To realize the additional 800 million euros in personnel and administrative cost savings promised by Unicredit, Commerzbank management believes a further 3,000 to 4,000 full-time positions would have to be eliminated.
Works council supports cuts
The job cuts announced by Commerzbank, the costs of which the board estimates at approximately 450 million euros, are to be handled in a 'socially responsible' manner through retirement and a partial retirement program with a 50,000-euro bonus, according to the bank. A transformation agreement reached with the works council outlines the key points. Simultaneously, jobs are to be created in 'growth and future-oriented fields' such as the digital brand Comdirect and asset management.
The works council supports the job cuts. 'Savings will be inevitable - but they are far less painful than the clearance sale we would have to expect in a takeover,' argued Sascha Uebel, Chairman of the Group and General Works Council of Commerzbank, in a post on the bank's intranet.
According to the Verdi trade union, compulsory redundancies are effectively ruled out based on the transformation agreement. 'For us, it is clear: no one should lose their job against their will,' emphasized union secretary Kevin Voss.
Second round of job cuts since early 2025
Exactly where the 3,000 positions will be cut remained open for now. 'In principle, we are looking at all units regarding future personnel requirements, both in the AG and at our subsidiaries in Germany as well as at our international locations,' explained Chief Human Resources Officer Sabine Mlnarsky in the intranet post.
Only in February 2025 had Commerzbank announced the reduction of 3,900 full-time positions by the end of 2027, the majority of them in Germany. At that time, the bank stated it would simultaneously create new jobs primarily abroad, such as at the Polish subsidiary mBank and at locations in Asia. At the end of 2025, the group had 39,867 full-time employees.
Resistance against Unicredit
Management, the works council, and the workforce of Commerzbank have been resisting what they perceive as 'hostile' maneuvering by Unicredit CEO Orcel for months. The German federal government also opposes a hostile takeover of Commerzbank. The state, which saved the Frankfurt institution from collapse with billions in taxpayer money during the 2008/2009 financial crisis, still holds just over 12 percent of the shares in the Dax group.
Unicredit is offering 0.485 new Unicredit shares for every Commerzbank share. According to Unicredit, these shares are worth 34.35 euros based on a three-month average price. However, this is below the recent trading price of Commerzbank shares. 'UniCredit's offer values Commerzbank significantly below its worth,' according to the assessment by the board led by Bettina Orlopp: 'Commerzbank shareholders are being asked to forfeit value appreciation potential and control without receiving a premium in return.'/ben/stw/DP/mis
