FILE PHOTO: People are silhouetted next to the Deutsche Bank’s logo prior to the bank’s annual meeting in Frankfurt, Germany, May 24, 2018. REUTERS/Kai Pfaffenbach/File Photo
June 7, 2018
FRANKFURT/BERLIN (Reuters) – Deutsche Bank <DBKGn.DE> Supervisory Board Chairman Paul Achleitner has talked to top shareholders, investors and German government officials about merging with peer Commerzbank <CBKG.DE>, Bloomberg reported, citing people familiar with the matter.
While there are currently no formal discussions between the two banks and any such move is not imminent, the chairman is talking now with stakeholders about a possible deal down the road, Bloomberg said.
Spokespeople for Deutsche Bank, Commerzbank and the German Finance Ministry all declined to comment.
The German state owns a 15 percent stake in Commerzbank.
Achleitner’s talks come as Germany’s flagship lender searches for new avenues of growth after reversing a push to build a global investment bank.
Deutsche Bank on Thursday said its investment banking arm will bear more than half of the group’s planned cost cuts, its chief financial officer said on Wednesday, as he admitted that the lender would continue to lag peers in the second quarter.
(Reporting by Christoph Steitz, Edward Taylor and Tom Koerkemeier; Editing by Alexandra Hudson)
