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However, two people familiar with the matter told Reuters that
Deutsche Bank and Commerzbank's top managers had no mandate from
their respective supervisory and management boards for any talks
about a merger of Germany's two biggest banks.
"There is no official mandate for merger talks with Commerzbank,"
one of the people told Reuters, contradicting the sources in the
Focus report who said the CEOs had received the go-ahead for
negotiations.
The second source said it was "total nonsense" that the boards
had given their chief executives the go-ahead to begin talks and
there had been no recent discussion at Commerzbank's supervisory
board about a merger with a larger rival.
Spokesmen for Deutsche Bank and Commerzbank declined to comment
on the Focus report which cited people familiar with the matter
who said Deutsche Bank CEO Christian Sewing and his counterpart
at Commerzbank, Martin Zielke, have been in intense talks for
some days.
Deutsche Bank shares traded 0.5 percent lower early in
Frankfurt, while Commerzbank was 0.1 percent higher.
Speculation of a merger has heightened under the tenure of
Finance Minister Olaf Scholz, who has spoken out in favor of
strong banks. Both banks have been slow to return to sustainable
profitability since the global financial crisis.
Last week, a person familiar with the matter said that U.S.
investor Cerberus Capital Management, a major shareholder in
both Deutsche Bank and Commerzbank, is open to a merger, raising
the chances of a tie-up.
Deutsche Bank, regarded as one of the most important banks for
the global financial system, has been plagued by three years of
losses, ratings downgrades, failed stress tests, and money
laundering scandals. Commerzbank is still partially owned by the
German government after a bailout.
(Reporting by Hans Seidenstuecker, Andreas Framke, Christoph
Steitz, Tom Sims; Editing by Richard Chang, Sherry
Jacob-Phillips and Alexander Smith)
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