About the speaker
She is Germany's most important female banker: Commerzbank CEO Bettina Orlopp is in the process of fending off a takeover attempt by the major Italian bank UniCredit – while simultaneously preparing Germany's second-largest private bank for the digital transformation. She has been leading Commerzbank since October 2024 – the first woman to do so in the bank's 155-year history. After nearly twenty years at the consulting firm McKinsey, she joined the institution in 2014. In 2017, the manager was promoted to the board and most recently served as CFO.
Last year, she was appointed to the top position – right in the middle of what is probably Commerzbank's most turbulent phase. Just days earlier, UniCredit had completely surprisingly become a major shareholder in the bank. The contract of the previous CEO, Manfred Knof, was terminated during those wild days, and from then on, Orlopp had one primary mission: to defend the bank's independence.
Many see the fact that she managed to double the stock price, thus preventing a takeover so far, as a masterstroke. Now she wants to achieve ambitious business goals and must also arm herself against digital companies like Revolut or Trade Republic. She will reveal how she plans to accomplish all this at Finance Forward at the OMR Festival 2026.
Bettina Orlopp at OMR
She is steering Commerzbank through one of the most exciting phases of recent years: Bettina Orlopp has been fighting for a good year and a half to prevent Germany's second-largest private bank from being taken over by Italy's Unicredit. At the same time, she has to deliver in day-to-day business and thus keep the share price as high as possible. How do you gear a company toward independence, how do you cultivate trust, and why is performance ultimately the strongest argument?
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