UniCredit May Repeat Germany Cost Cuts at Commerzbank, KBW Says

UniCredit SpA has demonstrated at its existing German unit that it can cut costs in the country, which bodes well for its potential plans for Commerzbank AG, analysts at KBW wrote in a note.

“Germany is a tough banking market and Commerzbank has a small market share, but we find that HVB, UniCredit’s German unit, has been a success story, despite being even smaller than Commerzbank,” analysts including Hugo Cruz wrote in a note released Tuesday. UniCredit apparently “has a formula that works and so it could make sense to replicate it with another German bank,” they said.