UniCredit nears EU antitrust OK for Commerzbank

Anabelle Colaco
11 Nov 2026, 18:48 GMT+10

The European Commission is set to give unconditional EU antitrust approval to Italy’s UniCredit for its acquisition of Germany’s second-biggest bank, Commerzbank
The approval underscores the regulatory push to create European champions through cross-border financial mergers
The Commission, which is the EU competition enforcer, is due to decide on the deal by November 16

BRUSSELS, Belgium: The European Commission is set to give unconditional EU antitrust approval to Italy's UniCredit for its acquisition of Germany's second-biggest bank, Commerzbank, three people with direct knowledge of the matter said, Reuters reported.

The approval underscores the regulatory push to create European champions through cross-border financial mergers. It follows the European Central Bank's green light for the deal last month.

The Commission, which is the EU competition enforcer, is due to decide on the deal by November 16. The Commission and UniCredit both declined to comment.

UniCredit CEO Andrea Orcel said on November 9 that all the remaining regulatory approvals for UniCredit to take control of Commerzbank would come before the end of November, sooner than anticipated.

The EU watchdog initially had concerns about whether Berlin's demand that the government keep two supervisory board seats at Commerzbank complied with EU law, the people said.

Since bailing out the bank during the global financial crisis, the German government, which still owns 13.3 percent of Commerzbank, has been able to name two of the 10 shareholder representatives on the 20-strong supervisory board.

However, UniCredit has said it wants to appoint all shareholder representatives, leaving no room for the two seats the bank has reserved for the government since its 2009 rescue.

Regulators expect to resolve the issue in time for the EU green light in mid-November; if not, one person said it will be examined at a later stage.