FRANKFURT (Reuters) – Cerberus, a top investor in Commerzbank
Commerzbank’s chairman and chief executive unexpectedly stepped down on Friday, bowing to demands from Cerberus that the bank change its strategy to stop a downward spiral in its financial performance.
The German lender’s supervisory board will meet on Wednesday to discuss personnel issues.
“The sudden departure of Commerzbank’s chairman and chief executive calls for an orderly process of filling the vacant positions,” a representative of Cerberus said on Monday.
Ratings agencies S&P and Moody’s on Monday warned that sudden resignations were “credit negative”, putting the ailing German lender’s strategy at risk, yet the banks shares soared.
Moody’s said the management shake-up “raises questions about the bank’s strategic plan and increases uncertainties about the bank’s future financial profile”.
Commerzbank’s new leaders will likely update the lender’s business targets and that would mean “even more severe adjustments to its business model and franchise,” Moody’s said.
A Commerzbank spokeswoman declined to comment on the Moody’s statement.
The bank’s shares, which sank to a record low in March, were up 8% in early afternoon trade in Frankfurt.
Analysts at CMC Markets wrote in a note to clients that the price rise reflected “some confidence that any new CEO, whoever that maybe, won’t do a worse job than the previous one”.
(Reporting by Tom Sims and Hans Seidenstuecker; editing by Maria Sheahan and Jason Neely)
