(Bloomberg) -- BlackRock Inc. Chief Executive Officer Larry Fink urged Europe to continue unifying its banking market, while stopping short of commenting on a potential combination of Commerzbank AG and UniCredit SpA.
“Europe needs a stronger capital markets system and it needs a more unified banking system,” Fink said in an interview at the Berlin Global Dialogue conference on Tuesday when asked about his views on a possible merger of the two lenders.
He added that he wouldn’t want to comment on “any activity” happening between the two companies specifically as his company is a shareholder in both. BlackRock is UniCredit’s largest and Commerzbank’s third-largest investor.
The comments from the head of the world’s biggest money manager come after UniCredit recently built a 21% holding in Commerzbank. Andrea Orcel, the CEO of the Italian lender, has said a full takeover is an option, billing his approach as a “test case for Europe.”
But the way he rapidly built his stake has angered the German government, which owns 12% in Commerzbank. Chancellor Olaf Scholz compared it to an “unfriendly” move. Italy has backed UniCredit and said a deal would be in line with the European Union goals of increasing integration.
The CEOs of both banks — Orcel and Bettina Orlopp — had a meeting on Friday where Orlopp explained her strategy for the German bank, Bloomberg has reported.
Alexandra Annecke, a portfolio manager at the German asset manager Union Investment, said last week that Commerzbank should have “an open dialog” with UniCredit. Union is among Commerzbank’s top 15 shareholders.
Citigroup Inc. analysts said in a note on Thursday that UniCredit would probably win the backing of institutional shareholders if it were to make a takeover bid for the German lender. A tie-up of the two lenders is the most likely scenario at the current juncture, the analysts said.
“I’m a very large believer in a banking and capital markets union,” Fink said at the Tuesday event.
--With assistance from Iain Rogers and Arno Schütze.
(Updates with previous comments from investors and analysts in seventh and eighth paragraph.)
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