Informed Crypto News
Italian giant UniCredit eyes Commerzbank with German crypto ties
Headline, Italian giant Unicredidise Khmerzbank with German crypto ties, published at 607 p.m. September 26, 2024 on Protos.com. Partially state-owned $20 billion German bank Khmerzbank has received acquisition interest from Italian lending giant Unicredid. Executives for the two European companies are meeting for initial discussions tomorrow in what could be a significant move to advance crypto in European banking through Khmerzbank's partnership with Deutsche Berza. Specifically, a subsidiary of Deutsche Berza, crypto finance, is working with Khmerzbank to offer Bitcoin and Ether trading for corporate customers in Germany. Unicredid has not yet proposed a formal bid for Khmerzbank. It has, however, increased its equity stake to approximately 21 percent and has applied for regulatory approval to increase it up to 29.9 percent. The German government still owns a 12 percent stake in Khmerzbank and has expressed opposition to the takeover. Certain members of Khmerzbank's board have also voiced opposition to the move. Subheading. The crypto impact of a Unicredid Khmerzbank deal, Khmerzbank became the first German universal bank to obtain a crypto custody license under the German Banking Act in November 2023. crypto finance, established in 2017, has four licenses from Germany's federal financial supervisory authority known as Baffin. The potential acquisition, merger, takeover, or otherwise of Khmerzbank by Unicredid could advance unification in the European bloc's famously incomplete banking union. Specifically, the acquisition could ease sovereign bank loop problems in Germany by creating a cross-border banking entity less tied to a single country's economy. Despite a shared currency, cross-border banking mergers in Europe remain exceedingly rare. Its impact on crypto could also be significant, allowing Italian and German companies to access fiat on and off-ramps for Bitcoin and Ether via a major banking partner with enviable licenses. This recording was AI-generated.