Deutsche and Commerzbank won’t merge
Germany’s largest publicly listed banks – Deutsche Bank and Commerzbank – say they will not go forward in their merger discussions, which have gone on for six weeks. Judging by comments, that is a wise decision.
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“Two troubled lenders looked unlikely to make one strong one,” The Economist writes bluntly upon the news Thursday that Deutsche Bank and Commerzbank are ditching their plans to join forces.
Simply too much
According to the two banks, the challenges would include too much “additional execution risks, restructuring costs and capital requirements associated with such a large-scale integration”.
The Economist notes that Deutsche Bank in 2018 showed profit, however small, for the first time in four years. The stocks are traded at about 25 percent of book value for Deutsche and a little more for Commerzbank.
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