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 ex-Bundesbank President Weidmann. The shareholders have the last word.
Ex-Bundesbank President Jens Weidmann will most likely become the head of the Commerzbank supervisory board. Weidmann is to be proposed to the general meeting on May 31 for election to the control committee and then take over its chairmanship, said the second largest German financial institution. Supervisory Board Chairman Helmut Gottschalk informed the shareholder representatives in the Presidential and Nomination 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 suggested Weidmann as his successor in consultation with the Federal Ministry of Finance. This was positively received by the committees.
“I am pleased that with the former President of the Deutsche Bundesbank, Dr. Weidmann, we have been able to win a highly respected personality in the financial sector for the candidacy for election to the Supervisory Board, who will also be available to chair the Supervisory Board if he is elected.” , explained Gottschalk. Weidmann’s assumption of office is subject to the approval of the responsible bodies. Gottschalk took over the chairmanship of the Commerzbank AR in April 2021. Before that, he headed the supervisory board of DZ Bank from 2010 to 2018.
Due to his expertise and reputation in the international financial sector, Weidmann is seen in the Commerzbank environment as the ideal head of the supervisory board, who is to accompany the second phase of the transformation at the institute. In order to get the bank back on a stable profit path, CEO Manfred Knof initiated a far-reaching restructuring last year. The restructuring aims to reduce costs and modernize the bank’s structures and make them more efficient. Of the once around 1,000 branches, 400 will remain in the coming year. The planned reduction of 10,000 jobs has now been largely regulated, it was said recently.
At the turn of the year, Weidmann was replaced by Joachim Nagel at the helm of the Bundesbank. 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 in the executive chair of the Bundesbank, Weidmann also stood for a monetary policy strictly geared towards currency stability.
In May 2011, the doctor of economics became Germany’s youngest President of the Bundesbank, just a few days after his 43rd birthday. He completed his doctorate in 1997 at the University of Bonn – the second examiner at the time was Axel Weber, who later became President of the Bundesbank. Before moving to the top of the Bundesbank, Weidmann was the personal representative of the then Chancellor Angela Merkel for the economic summits of the G8 and G20 countries.
