Bundesbank President Joachim Nagel stressed the importance of strong banks for the economy on the occasion of the Italian major bank UniCredit’s takeover of Commerzbank.
According to the text of his speech, Nagel said at a Commerzbank event in Frankfurt on Wednesday that he wanted to make a side note because of the occasion. In order for companies to be able to tackle and finance their future tasks, strong and robust banks are needed, he added. “In the context of possible mergers, it is essential that the end result is a competitive institution that fulfills this mission in the best possible way,” he added.
UniCredit, already present in Germany with its HypoVereinsbank brand, surprised everyone last week by announcing that it had acquired 9% of Commerzbank. It bought half of it from the federal government. A merger with Commerzbank could create a banking giant with a market value of almost 74 billion euros.
(Reporting by Frank Siebelt, edited by Ralf Banser; for questions please contact our editorial team at [email protected] (for politics and economics) or [email protected] (for business and markets)).
