Ministry of Finance is informed
Former Bundesbank chief Weidmann to become Commerzbank supervisor
11/19/2022 at 8:42 pm
Germany’s second largest bank needs a new chief supervisor. The Chairman of the Supervisory Board is retiring. Before that, he proposes a prominent successor in the form of Weidmann, the former president of the Bundesbank. Shareholders have the last word.
Former Bundesbank President Jens Weidmann is likely to head the Commerzbank supervisory board. The second largest German financial institution said Weidmann is to be proposed at a general meeting on May 31 for election to the control committee and then to take over its chairmanship. The Chairman of the Supervisory Board, Helmut Gottschalk, informed the shareholder representatives in the Presidium and Nominations Committee that after the Annual General Meeting he would no longer be available as Chairman of the Supervisory Board due to his age. The 71-year-old recommended Weidmann as his successor in consultation with the federal finance ministry. It was positively received by the committees.
“I am pleased that together with the former Chairman of Deutsche Bundesbank, Dr. Weidmann, we have been able to win over a highly respected personality in the financial sector for election to the Supervisory Board, who will also be available to the Chairman. Supervisory Board if he gets elected.” , Gottschalk explained. Weidmann’s taking over is subject to the approval of the responsible bodies. Gottschalk takes over as chairman of Commerzbank AR in April 2021. Prior to this, he headed the supervisory board of DZ Bank from 2010 to 2018.
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Due to his expertise and reputation in the international financial sector, Weidmann is seen in Commerzbank’s environment as the ideal head of the supervisory board to accompany the institution in its second phase of transformation. To get the bank back on a stable profit path, CEO Manfred Knopf initiated a far-reaching restructuring last year. The restructuring is aimed at reducing costs and modernizing the bank’s structures and making them more efficient. Of the once approximately 1,000 branches, 400 will remain in the coming year. The planned cut of 10,000 jobs has now been largely regulated, it was said recently.
At the end of the year, Weidmann was replaced at the helm of the Bundesbank by Joachim Nagel. For ten years, from 2011 to 2021, he headed the German Central Bank and was a member of the Governing Council of the European Central Bank (ECB). Like his predecessors as acting chairman of the Bundesbank, Weidmann also stood for a monetary policy strictly geared to currency stability.
In May 2011, the Doctor of Economics became Germany’s youngest President of the Bundesbank, just days after his 43rd birthday. He completed his doctorate at the University of Bonn in 1997 – the second examiner at the time was Axel Weber, who later became president of the Bundesbank. Prior to heading the Bundesbank, Weidmann was then-Chancellor Angela Merkel’s personal representative for economic summits of the G8 and G20 countries.
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