A possible Merger between German banking giants Deutsche Bank and Commerzbank has faced strong push back from supervisory board members.
According to Bloomberg, labor representatives on Deutsche Bank’s oversight body oppose the deal.
Jan Duscheck and Stephan Szukalski say that a merger between the two banks would result in 30,000 people losing their jobs.
The labor representatives also claim that the resulting company would not actually make the two banks any stronger, defeating the purpose of any deal between them.
“We reject a merger,” Duscheck told Bloomberg, adding that the merger “would not create a national champion” and make the firm more likely to be taken over by a foreign company.
Szukalski, who is the head of German banking union DBV, also dismissed the merger, calling it “economic nonsense.”
Unionists still wield a hefty amount of power in Germany. It is not uncommon for employee representatives to take up half the seats on a supervisory board.
Shareholders and regulators not on board
But unionists are not alone in their skepticism of the deal. Regulators and shareholders have apparently expressed concern over the possible merger, citing the innumerable hurdles the two banks would have to overcome to make it work.
Rumors of a merger emerged in January, though the two banks also discussed the matter, albeit informally, three years ago.
The deal is a result of a series of poor performances on the part of Deutsche Bank, whose executives have been struggling to make the bank profitable again after years of stagnation.
Talk of a merger surfaced after the bank reported its eighth consecutive year of fourth-quarter losses.
