Another dimension of the possibility of an aggressive acquisition of it Commerzbank from the UniCreditthis time concerning the German bank’s workers, asked Stefan Wittmann, a top executive at the supervisory board and a top official at the German trade union Verdi, speaking of mass redundancies.

Italy’s UniCredit said on Monday it had increased its stake in the German lender to around 21% and submitted a request to boost that holding to 29.9%, signaling a takeover bid could be on the cards.

It should be noted that German Chancellor Olaf Scholz directly opposed the takeover, saying that “unfriendly attacks, aggressive takeovers are not good for banks and that is why the German government has clearly positioned itself in this direction”. It is worth mentioning that the German government is Commerzbank’s largest shareholder since it bailed out the bank with 18.2 billion euros during the 2008 crisis.

2/3 of the jobs are threatened

Stefan Wittmann, speaking on CNBC, said that two-thirds of jobs at Commerzbank could disappear if UniCredit successfully pulls off an aggressive takeover of the bank, adding that “we certainly hope to avoid it.” According to him, Commerzbank’s board has called on the German government to conduct an internal review of the potential takeover, which it hopes will give the bank a six-month period to assess the situation.

“But if an aggressive takeover is inevitable, we believe that two-thirds of the jobs will disappear, that there will be another significant cut across industries,” he stressed.

“We will see specifically that UniCredit does not want all of Commerzbank’s customers at all, but that it is focusing on the supposedly best customers, namely the wealthy customers,” he predicted.

“We are really concerned about our financial and business responsibility. In terms of labor, which of course the unions are particularly focused on, they will always lose from the merger, regardless of the timing,” Wittmann said.

Tense atmosphere

Wittmann conveyed a “very tense” atmosphere within the company, adding that the bank was surprised by UniCredit’s announcement on Monday, which he described as a “180-degree turn within 48 hours”.

UniCredit CEO Andrea Orcel claimed on Friday that he wanted an amicable takeover in agreement with all stakeholders and politicians. And yesterday we were surprised by the hostile takeover attempt. That doesn’t make sense,” Wittmann commented.

He, himself, questioned what might happen if geopolitical tensions or “turmoil” affect UniCredit’s availability of capital to finance Commerzbank’s business.

“We are always open, including the employee representatives on the Supervisory Board, to the view that there can and should be mergers at a European level, but only when there is a banking union. And this is only our second point of criticism, which is to say: first create the rules of the game and the guardrails, and then do it sensitively when it is clear that we are on a ‘field’,” said Wittmann.