(Bloomberg) -- German Finance Minister Olaf Scholz and his state secretaries held talks with nearly 40 international banks in recent months amid deliberations over a possible merger of Deutsche Bank AG and Commerzbank AG, Redaktionsnetzwerk Deutschland reports.
The conversations included European firms such as UBS Group AG and BNP Paribas SA, as well as global banks like JPMorgan Chase & Co., Citibank and Bank of China Ltd., according to the report, which cites a Parliamentary question filed by Green Party politician Danyal Bayaz.
“Scholz has apparently sounded out in great detail how the global situation in the banking sector is and which chances the German banks have,” Bayaz told RND. Scholz appears to be the key driver behind the merger deliberations but refuses to acknowledge that role due to public criticism over a possible deal, he said.
Commerzbank Chief Executive Officer Martin Zielke wrote in a memo on Friday the company will strive to keep the period of uncertainty as short as possible and decide soon on whether or not to pursue a combination with crosstown rival Deutsche Bank.
--With assistance from Steven Arons.
To contact the reporter on this story: Christoph Rauwald in Frankfurt at crauwald@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Anthony Palazzo at apalazzo@bloomberg.net, Crystal Chui, Srinivasan Sivabalan
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