Bettina Orlopp: The woman tasked with leading Commerzbank amid UniCredit takeover battle

Commerzbank announced Tuesday it has picked 10-year veteran, and current Chief Financial Officer Bettina Orlopp to helm the bank as chief executive as it seeks to fend off a potential hostile takeover from Italian bank UniCredit.

The bank has been on the defensive as UniCredit looks to become its largest shareholder, signaling the potential for a full takeover.

Earlier this month, the Milan-based bank started building its shareholding with a 9% stake in Commerzbank. UniCredit then announced this week it had acquired additional Commerzbank shares, taking its stake in the German lender to around 21%, and submitted a request to increase its holdings to 29.9%.

Senior officials at Commerzbank and the German government, which was the company's largest shareholder until UniCredit stepped in, have both said they oppose a hostile takeover. Orlopp will now be put in charge of leading the fight.

Commerzbank said in a late Tuesday statement that its supervisory board is aiming for current Chief Executive Manfred Knof to hand over his duties to Orlopp, "in the near future." The firm added that the board had agreed unanimously on Orlopp succeeding Knof after an internal and external search for candidates.

Orlopp's contract is set out for five years, Commerzbank said, noting that the search for her replacement as CFO is still underway.

Orlopp said she was "looking forward to this new challenge," while also noting that "significant tasks lie ahead."

"Together with all our key partners, we will navigate through the challenges ahead of us successfully," she said.

Since March 2020, Orlopp has been Commerzbank's CFO, covering finance, investor relations, tax and treasury departments, according to her bio on the bank's website. Most recently she was also the deputy chairwoman of the board of directors at the German bank, a position she has held since 2021.

The 54-year-old banker initially joined Commerzbank in 2014 as a divisional board member for group development and strategy. Since then, Orlopp has worked as an executive board member and then member of the board of managing directors overseeing areas including compliance, legal and human resources divisions.

Prior to her time at Commerzbank, Orlopp worked at McKinsey for 19 years. She holds a business administration diploma from the University of Regensburg, where she also completed a doctorate in finance.

Orlopp told journalists last week that current developments with UniCredit were unexpected, but urged calm.

"We have all been very surprised by the process," she said according to Reuters. "That's why the most important thing now is simply to sort it out calmly, to think about what's on the table now and how to deal with it," she added.

Other officials at Commerzbank have been more direct in sharing their concerns about a tie-up with the Italian bank. Stefan Wittman, supervisory board member at Commerzbank, on Tuesday told CNBC "we certainly hope we can avoid" a hostile takeover and warned that major job losses could occur if UniCredit took over.

This is not Orlopp's first tumultuous time at Commerzbank. She was at the bank when it began the process of restructuring in 2016 and throughout periods of merger considerations, including interest from Deutsche Bank in 2018 and 2019.

When Orlopp became CFO in 2020, the bank was facing pressure from U.S. private equity group Cerberus, which at the time held an around 5% stake in Commerzbank, according to Reuters. The activist investor demanded personnel and strategy — including cost cutting — changes at the German lender.

The pressure from shareholders to reduce costs saw both the CEO and chairman of the supervisory board at the time, resign from their positions. Knof was then named CEO in 2020 and officially took on the role in 2021.

Thomas Schweppe, founder of 7Square, on Wednesday told CNBC that he believed it was important that the decision to make Orlopp CEO was taken quickly. "The situation is untenable. You cannot defend a company without a credible CEO," he said.

Orlopp's extensive experience at Commerzbank will allow her to hit the ground running, which is "very very important," Schweppe said.

"At the same time obviously she has been part of some decisions that potentially led to the, you know, difficult situation Commerzbank finds itself now in," he added.