Deutsche Bank mega-merger collapses

Deutsche Bank at One Brindleyplace
Deutsche Bank at One Brindleyplace (Credit: Elliott Brown/Creative Commons)

The proposed merger between German financial institutions Deutsche Bank and Commerzbank has collapsed, leaving uncertainty in its wake.

Deutsche Bank, which employs hundreds of people at their Brindleyplace offices, has abandoned plans to merge with its rival due to the complexity of a potential merger.

The Financial Times reported that the German government had backed the merger, saying the country needed a bank big enough to rival its Wall Street competition.

Had they merged, they would have become the second largest lender in Europe, with €1.7tn in assets, said the FT.

The banks agreed that the obstacles to a merger would be to difficult and complex to overcome and could not justify the deal.

Both banks are continuing to explore opportunities to cut costs. Shares in Deutsche Bank dropped 1.5% after the news broke.

This provides more uncertainty for Deutsche Bank in the UK. In 2017 it suggested that it may have to move as many as 4,000 of its 9,000 jobs once the UK left the European Union.

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