FILE PHOTO: A company logo is pictured at the headquarters of Germany’s Commerzbank AG during the annual results news conference in Frankfurt, Germany, February 13, 2020. REUTERS/Ralph Orlowski
November 27, 2020
FRANKFURT (Reuters) – Commerzbank appointed a new board member to oversee the German lender’s corporate business on Friday after his predecessor left over differences about the division’s future, the bank said on Friday.
The departure continues a management reshuffle at Germany’s No. 2 lender that has swept through the top leadership ranks.
Commerzbank said that Michael Kotzbauer, who joined the bank in 1990, will take over from Roland Boekhout, who joined the bank at the start of 2020 and was previously with the Dutch bank ING.
The decision was taken at an extraordinary meeting of the bank’s supervisory board on Friday.
Boekhout “has decided to leave Commerzbank due to differing views on the future set up of the corporate clients business,” said the bank’s new chairman, Hans-Joerg Vetter.
Both the bank’s former chairman and its CEO announced their resignations earlier this year, setting off a series of high-profile exits.
The bank has been struggling to generate profits and has announced it is reviewing its strategy, with announcements on that expected early in 2021 after the arrival of the new CEO, Manfred Knof, who is joining from Deutsche Bank.
Boekhout was passed over for the CEO job.
(Reporting by Tom Sims; editing by Thomas Seythal and Thomas Escritt)