Commerzbank, Once Dismissed as Hopeless, Suddenly Draws Cheers

As Bettina Orlopp prepared to address Commerzbank AG’s annual meeting on Thursday, hundreds of people were holding up protest signs outside the conference hall.

Only the employees and shareholders who’d come to the town of Wiesbaden weren’t criticizing Commerzbank and its chief executive officer for their performance, as they would in the past. Wearing t-shirts saying “My heart beats yellow,” a reference to the firm’s corporate colors, they were cheering the bank and booing a firm that wasn’t even there, UniCredit SpA.