FILE PHOTO: Banners of Deutsche Bank and Commerzbank are pictured in front of the German share price index, DAX board, at the stock exchange in Frankfurt, Germany, September 30, 2016. REUTERS/Kai Pfaffenbach/File Photo
February 14, 2019
BERLIN (Reuters) – Both Deutsche Bank and Commerzbank have fairly low stock values which naturally exposes them to possible takeovers from bigger financial institutions, German Deputy Finance Minister Joerg Kukies told the Sueddeutsche Zeitung newspaper.
“In nature, it is so that big animals eat smaller ones,” he told the newspaper in remarks to be published on Friday. “In the world of finance such decisions are made by the shareholders and leadership of a company, the state sets the framework.”
German Finance Minister Olaf Scholz said earlier this month he was in talks with banks about their future and called reports of a merger of Deutsche Bank and Commerzbank “speculation”.
Media reports have said Germany would want a merger of its two main banks to go through before European Parliament elections in May.
(Reporting by Joseph Nasr; Editing by Chris Reese)
