Commerzbank's straight-talking new CEO Orlopp faces immediate UniCredit test
Orlopp faces UniCredit challenge amid opposition from management and Chancellor Scholz
Orlopp's leadership style involves clear statements, decisive actions
Orlopp's rapid rise to CEO follows Knof's departure and UniCredit's stake swoop
By Tom Sims
FRANKFURT, Sept 25 (Reuters) -Bettina Orlopp, who has been named as the first female CEO of a major German bank, has faced big challenges during a decade at Commerzbank, including a shareholder revolt soon after she became its finance chief in 2020.
But her sudden elevation to the role of Commerzbank chief executive days after Italy's UniCredit launched a surprise share raid on Germany's second largest bank will be the biggest yet for an executive who has stressed her own direct approach.
Orlopp, a former partner at consulting firm McKinsey, will lead the Frankfurt-based lender at a critical juncture in its 154-year history.
Her management style has been based on making "clear statements", one person who knows her said of Orlopp.
That approach will be put to the test as she goes toe-to-toe with arch-dealmaker Andrea Orcel, the UniCredit CEO who is keen to explore a Commerzbank takeover, while also navigating Germany's complex politics and running the bank.
Orlopp previously proved her mettle in helping to see off U.S. activist investor Cerberus, a major Commerzbank shareholder at the time, with a plan which involved slashing nearly 10,000 staff and closing hundreds of branches.
That helped to restore Commerzbank to profitability, although it is still partly owned by the government after a crisis-era rescue. The bank represents a linchpin of the largest European economy, with more than 25,000 business customers, and handles a third of German foreign trade payments.
Its management, employees and the nation's chancellor, Olaf Scholz, have all voiced opposition to a potential takeover.
Orlopp addressed supervisory board members, many of whom are vehemently against a tie-up, on Wednesday at an annual retreat in the woody hills outside Frankfurt, sharing her vision behind closed doors for the first time as CEO.
She was expected to say she will examine UniCredit's overtures in her responsibility to shareholders, but also to make a strong case for the bank's independence, said a person familiar with the board's thinking.
She was then due to head to London to address the City of London and the public on Thursday, an opportunity to elaborate on Commerzbank's standalone strategy, a second person said.
Orcel at the same conference said that a tie-up would be the best outcome.
"While we have a strategy that is effective, significant tasks lie ahead. Together with all our key partners, we will navigate through the challenges ahead of us successfully," she said in a statement on Tuesday.
Klaus Nieding of the shareholder lobby group DSW said Orlopp, with a number of advisers by her side, will be able to steer Commerzbank through "troubled waters" and urged the public to be patient during trying times.
"To be fair I would like to give her a 100 days credit in trust before blaming her," he said.
Last week Orlopp huddled with journalists with unusually outspoken advice for the government: the finance ministry should hold on to its remaining 12% Commerzbank stake.
The comment was striking because for years, Commerzbank's management had declined to comment on its largest shareholder.
Days later, Berlin said it would put any sales on hold.
UNANIMOUS CHOICE
Such a rapid rise to CEO had not been expected, but Orlopp's predecessor, Manfred Knof, earlier this month announced he would leave Commerzbank at the end of 2025.
Hours later, UniCredit revealed its stake, raising questions about whether Knof was best placed to lead talks on any tie-up and leading to the early change, people said.
The bank said its supervisory board had conducted a search both internally and externally and in the end Orlopp, who has been with the bank a decade, was picked unanimously.
The promotion of Orlopp, who switched to banking after a 19-year consulting career, makes her one of the few women to also lead a big European bank. Commerzbank has fared better than many of its peers in female representation in top spots.
Orlopp is a proponent of a fairer distribution of jobs between men and women over time, a process that requires patience but must seek to avoid frustration, according to a person with direct knowledge of her thinking.
Repeated promotions of one gender over the other is culturally destructive and demotivating for both, she believes.
"At the beginning of my career, I was considered too reserved. That has changed. In the meantime, I lead very directly, with clear messages," she was quoted as saying in a 2022 profile in Manager Magazin.
Reporting by Tom Sims; additional reporting by John O'Donnell and Emma-Victoria Farr; editing by Elisa Martinuzzi and Alexander Smith
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