Newly appointed Commerzbank AG chief executive officer Bettina Orlopp. — Reuters
Berlin: Bettina Orlopp has been waiting in the wings for more than four years.
With Commerzbank AG scrambling to fend off an unwelcome suitor, her rise to the top has taken a sudden and dramatic twist.
The lender’s supervisory board appointed Orlopp as the next chief executive officer, the first woman ever in that role.
The announcement came barely two weeks after chief executive Manfred Knof said he wouldn’t seek a new term when his current one runs out at the end of next year.
That timeline was thrown into disarray within hours of being announced as Italian rival UniCredit SpA took a major stake in the German lender.
Orlopp, Commerzbank’s chief financial officer, now finds herself leading the 154-year-old company through one of its biggest challenges, with its future as an independent firm at stake.
“While we have a strategy that is effective, significant tasks lie ahead,” Orlopp said in the press release announcing her new role.
“We will navigate through the challenges ahead of us successfully,” she added.
Her first task will be to defend Commerzbank against UniCredit and its chief executive officer, Andrea Orcel, who has rapidly built a major stake in the competitor, effectively becoming the largest shareholder ahead of the German government.
A full takeover is an option, he has said.
While Orcel has praised Commerzbank’s leadership, he has also said that its strategy should be improved and announced he’ll present ideas to management.
Orlopp has pushed back, sending a clear signal to Orcel she won’t let Commerzbank be taken over without a fight.
She’s “not excited” by the prospect of the lender becoming a part of UniCredit, she said last week.
“Issues like this cause unrest,” she said, referring to the UniCredit move. “We don’t need them because we are on an excellent path.”
That path is now for her to chart. Her appointment happened during Commerzbank’s annual strategy meeting in a town outside Frankfurt, where its headquartered.
While UniCredit’s approach and Orlopp’s new role likely dominated talks, management also need to devise a strategy that prepares Commerzbank for an era of falling interest rates, which is set to cut into revenue.
A former partner at McKinsey & Co, Orlopp has been preparing for the top role at Commerzbank since at least 2020, when Martin Zielke was forced out in a shareholder revolt.
While she was a top internal contender at the time, the lender ultimately passed over her for Knof, an outsider hired from Deutsche Bank AG. — Bloomberg
