Unicredit cleared by ECB to take control of Commerzbank

JUST IN: UniCredit cleared by the ECB to take control of Germany's Commerzbank, allowed to exceed the 30% shareholding threshold, with full control set from 2027.

The ECB just handed UniCredit the keys to Commerzbank.

Frankfurt's regulators ruled the Italian bank can blow past the 30 percent shareholding threshold, the line that normally triggers a full takeover fight. And that's exactly what this is now. From 2027, the Milan lender takes control of Germany's second biggest bank. You can see the tower where this was plotted right here, Piazza Gae Aulenti, the UniCredit spire over Milan's financial district.

And this is the prize, Commerzbank in Frankfurt, a bank Berlin has treated as practically a national asset. UniCredit has been circling it for two years, buying in slice by slice while German politicians fumed. Tonight the central bank that matters said yes anyway.

This would be the biggest cross-border bank takeover Europe has seen in a generation, and the clock on it now reads 2027. Italy's largest bank is about to own a piece of Germany's banking identity, with the ECB's blessing in writing.

This is Sara White, reporting for HIT.