UniCredit, Commerzbank, and the Ponto Eye.

The battle over UniCredit’s takeover of Commerzbank has now been going on for two years, and it can’t be said that the whole affair has been handled particularly smartly, discreetly, or even with dignity—neither on the part of the banks nor the federal government, which is still involved. But now UniCredit is in the home stretch: If the European Banking Authority gives the green light, UniCredit will reach the control threshold in October, and that will be that. Is the takeover ultimately a good thing—for Frankfurt as a financial center, for example? We don’t know anything about the banking and capital markets, so we’re wondering what will become of the Commerzbank brand—and the HypoVereinsbank brand. Those of us who are older will recall: After UniCredit took over HypoVereinsbank, it took a full three years for the colors and logo to be changed—and the name remained. But you don’t have to be a prophet to foresee that UniCredit won’t want to maintain two brands in Germany in the long run, and that the Commerzbank brand will remain. What will likely disappear: the Commerzbank logo—a Möbius strip, which in turn is a reference to Dresdner Bank’s “Ponto Eye”; that equilateral triangle within a green hexagon—a strong, clear symbol that, in the early 1970s, when Jürgen Ponto was CEO, made Dresdner Bank’s image transformation tangible. A pioneering achievement in the banking market; for Jürgen Ponto, brand image and brand experience were already key drivers of corporate success back then. Incidentally, 2027 will mark 50 years since Ponto was shot and killed at home by far-left terrorists. It may be a cause for melancholy that the memory of the “Ponto Eye” may soon disappear for good. And one wonders what Jürgen Ponto would have said about the battle for Commerzbank.

Or what do you think?

Here's the link:

https://www.faz.net/aktuell/wirtschaft/unternehmen/kampf-um-die-commerzbank-eine-uebernahme-die-es-so-nicht-geben-duerfte-201269363.html