Interim results: Commerzbank into the arms of the Italians with record profits

Commerzbank remains on record and made more profit in the first nine months of 2026 than in the entire previous year. “The strong business development shows what potential Commerzbank has,” said Commerzbank boss Bettina Orlopp.

With the Italian Unicredit, the DAX group has a de facto controlling shareholder who is heading towards a takeover. “The preparatory work for the consolidation has begun,” writes Commerzbank.

Orlopp, who has resisted this for almost two years, says: “We are convinced that we can create value together with Unicredit by consistently leveraging the strengths of both banks.” In a conference call, she reiterated: “I am confident that additional profits can be achieved within the Unicredit Group.”

There is potential “for example in purchasing, in IT topics such as cybersecurity and AI, in sales and in common product platforms,” said Orlopp in an intranet video. “Nothing will change in day-to-day business for our customers.”

Business at Germany's second-largest listed bank went well in the third quarter: a profit of 859 million euros was a good 45 percent more than a year earlier. In the first nine months, the surplus climbed by more than 40 percent to a record value of around 2.7 billion euros.

For the year as a whole, the board is aiming for a record profit of at least 3.4 billion euros. For 2027 and 2028, “further increasing profitability” is expected despite restructuring costs, said Orlopp. In 2025, the record of 2024 (almost 2.7 billion euros) was narrowly missed due to the costs of job cuts.

Unicredit has secured access to almost half of the shares. The major bank, which is represented in Germany by Hypovereinsbank (HVB), sees potential for billions in savings. Unicredit boss Andrea Orcel wants to curtail Commerzbank's foreign network.

Commerzbank itself is driving down costs. In February 2025 it was announced that 3,900 full-time positions would be cut by the end of 2027. Another austerity program followed in May 2026: around 3,000 more jobs are expected to be eliminated by 2030. In addition, “there could of course be one or two employee cuts,” said Orlopp.

According to Commerzbank, around 1,800 employees have made arrangements for a transition. More than 1,100 employees have already decided on a new partial retirement program. As of September 30, the group had 40,390 full-time employees worldwide, 25,091 of them in Germany.

The federal government, which still holds a good 13 percent of the shares, insists that Commerzbank can continue to fulfill its role in financing medium-sized businesses.

Unicredit boss Orcel appealed for trust: “We are not combining the strengths of both banks in order to do less for German companies.” Unicredit is “determined to demonstrate the added value of combining the strengths of both banks,” emphasized Orcel. “We ask our customers to continue to place their trust in us and to measure us against our actual performance.”

Unicredit expects the pending approvals for its takeover plan in the next few weeks. Commerzbank assumes that the approvals will be available “during the fourth quarter or at the latest by the beginning of 2027”.

Orcel has made no secret of the fact that he wants to fill the leadership of Commerzbank. There is speculation about an extraordinary general meeting at the end of January or beginning of February 2027. Commerzbank boss Orlopp assured: “We will definitely be prepared if there is such a request.”