It will be Martin Zielke, 53, the successor of Martin Blessing as CEO of Commerzbank, the second largest bank in Germany. Zielke was previously the head of the retail division of the Frankfurt bank and has been on the board since 2010. Blessing had announced last autumn that he wanted to leave the leadership of Commerzbank before the expiry of his contract, in October this year, to "write a new chapter in my professional career". With Blessing's step back, one of the last leaders of European banks who benefited from public bailouts during the great crisis leaves the scene.
Zielke's background also includes positions at rival Deutsche Bank and Dresdner Bank. Commerzbank's retail division under his leadership achieved operating profits of 751 million euros last year, up sharply from 455 million and 221 million in the previous two years. The predecessor, Blessing, had been the director in the acquisition of Dresdner Bank and the sale of EuroHypo. Both deals had resulted in billions of euros in losses, bringing the bank close to insolvency. As a result, the former CEO asked for help from the government, which injected 2008 billion euros into the institution between 2009 and 18. The government still has an approximately 15% stake in the bank. Blessing was much criticized but over the years has managed to stabilize the financial position of the bank.
