FRANKFURT (dpa-AFX) - Former Bundesbank President Jens Weidmann is the new head of the Supervisory Board of Commerzbank. The supervisory body unanimously elected the 55-year-old as its new chairman after the online annual general meeting on Wednesday, as announced by the Frankfurt-based financial institution, which has been listed on the Dax again since the end of February. The shareholders represented at the AGM had previously elected Weidmann as a new member of the Supervisory Board with 99.2 percent approval.

Predecessor Helmut Gottschalk (71) had already made it public in November that he would not be standing for re-election for reasons of age and, in consultation with the Federal Ministry of Finance, proposed Weidmann as his successor. Since the rescue of Commerzbank with billions of taxpayers' money in the financial crisis of 2008/2009, the federal government has been the largest single shareholder in the institution, currently holding a 15.6 percent stake.

Weidmann is the fourth chairman of Commerzbank's supervisory board in just over three years. His predecessor Gottschalk had taken over the chairmanship of the Supervisory Board in April 2021 from Hans-Jorg Vetter, who had fallen ill. His predecessor, Stefan Schmittmann, resigned in the summer of 2020 after harsh criticism from U.S. financial investor Cerberus.

Weidmann knows Commerzbank, which is now partly nationalized, from difficult times: When the bank overstretched itself in the 2008/2009 financial crisis with the Dresdner Bank takeover and had to be saved from collapse with billions in taxpayers' money, Weidmann was one of the leading advisors to then Chancellor Angela Merkel (CDU) and head of the Economic and Financial Policy Department in the Chancellor's Office. Born in Solingen, Germany, he was thus part of the group of top officials who put together rescue packages for stumbling banks.

In May 2011, at the age of 43, Weidmann became the youngest Bundesbank president ever to take over the post at the central bank in Frankfurt from Axel Weber, who had quit in a dispute over the European Central Bank's (ECB) anti-crisis policy. Weidmann, too, always warned against monetary policy getting out of hand. He set the course for his career change at the end of 2021: Weidmann stepped down as Bundesbank president on December 31, 2021.

Business at Commerzbank has recently improved again, boosted by the interest rate turnaround. Last year, Commerzbank earned a good 1.4 billion euros, the most since 2007. After a jump in profits in the first quarter of 2023, Group CEO Manfred Knof reiterated at the Annual General Meeting his intention to significantly increase net income in the current year.

Commerzbank has "a key role as a leading bank for the Mittelstand," Commerzbank quoted Weidmann as saying in the announcement of his election. "Thanks to the progress made in its transformation, the bank is now once again in a good position to help shape the economic future of our country."

Fund manager Alexandra Annecke of Union Investment had previously said at the annual general meeting that Gottschalk was handing over "a bank with potential" to his successor, that the turnaround was showing good progress but was "not yet complete."

Nevertheless, better times are to dawn again for the shareholders of the bank: A dividend of 20 cents per share will be paid for the past fiscal year. This third dividend payout since the bank was rescued during the financial crisis is just the beginning, according to the Board of Management./ben/DP/stw