Deutsche Bank’s head of German retail banking Manfred Knof will become the new chief executive of domestic rival Commerzbank, the Frankfurt based lender announced on Saturday.
The 55-year old former Allianz manager will join Commerzbank in January, ending an extended period of leadership limbo triggered by the joint resignation of chairman Stefan Schmittmann and CEO Martin Zielke in early July.
Both decided to leave the lacklustre German lender after private equity group Cerberus called for “significant change at the supervisory board, the management board and the company’s strategic plan” to stop a “downward spiral” caused by what the investor said were bloated costs, low profits and managerial inaction.
The ECB, Europe’s top banking regulator, previously urged Commerzbank to step up its restructuring efforts.
Shares in Commerzbank have lost close to 50 per cent since merger talks with domestic rival Deutsche Bank collapsed in April last year. Analysts expect that the lender will be lossmaking this year and next.
In the second quarter, Commerzbank’s operating profit collapsed 34 per cent year-on-year, while its net profit fell by a fifth as the lender took hits from the Covid-19 pandemic and the insolvency of disgraced German payments provider Wirecard.
Last month, Commerzbank elected Hans-Jörg Vetter, the former chief executive of state-owned German lender LBBW, as its new chairman.
In a statement released on Saturday evening, Mr Vetter praised Mr Knof as an “experienced and highly effective top manager who has proven himself in a wide range of tasks in the financial services industry,” stressing the incoming CEO’s “expertise and human leadership skills”. Mr Knof’s appointment was approved unanimously by Commerzbank’s supervisory board.
Mr Knof, 55, joined Deutsche Bank a year ago after a more than two-decade long career at Germany’s largest insurance group Allianz where he made his name as a “ruthless manager” with little regard for union sensitivities and a determination to deliver results. “The crowbar is his most favourite tool [in dealing with a conflict]”, a former Allianz colleague told the FT in 2019 after Mr Knof joined Deutsche.
“I have a great deal of respect for this new assignment,” Mr Knof said in a statement on Saturday night, stressing that the lender had “a high relevance for the German economy.”
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