Sky's Ian King explains the rationale for a big German banking merger but says there will be costly consequences if it passes.
It's been the subject of speculation for months - but Deutsche Bank and Commerzbank, Germany's two largest lenders, have finally confirmed that they are in merger talks.
It is likelier, though, that he had in mind a tie-up with a rival like BNP Paribas rather than another German bank.More recently, Peter Altmeier, Germany's economy minister, named Deutsche Bank as one of a number of national champions, along with the likes of Siemens and BMW.to prevent their being taken over by foreign competitors.
Commerz specialises in lending to the 'Mittelstand' - the mid-sized companies, many of them family-owned, many of them in engineering, that form the beating heart of the German economy. Christian Sewing, a Deutsche Bank lifer who succeeded Mr Cryan as chief executive in April last year, said only last September it would not be possible to contemplate a big merger while it was still going through extensive restructuring.
To put it in context, Royal Bank of Scotland's shares trade at around three-quarters of book value, while shares of Lloyds trade at around 85% of book value. The big US banks, such as Bank of America and JP Morgan Chase, currently trade at north of their book value. One possible solution to get around the need for a possible capital-raising would be for Deutsche to sell its remaining 79.5% stake in DWS, its asset management arm, which
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