Another board position will become vacant at Commerzbank.

This time, however, the withdrawal is at your own request.

While Jörg Hessenmüller (IT) and Sabine Schmittroth (personnel and private customers) fell out of favor with the Chairman of the Supervisory Board, Helmut Gottschalk, Chief Risk Officer Marcus Chromik himself decided not to extend his contract, which expired at the end of 2023.

Gottschalk respected this on Wednesday and spoke after a supervisory board meeting of "mutual high esteem".

Hanno Mussler

Editor in Business.

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Chromik, who is the youngest at just 50 but also the longest-serving member of the Commerzbank board at the age of eight, would like to start again somewhere else and be able to shape ten complete years.

He has therefore informed the supervisory board that he will not accept a possible offer to extend the contract.

After Chromik leaves, at the latest when his contract expires at the end of 2023, CFO Bettina Orlopp, who has been on the board since November 2017 and deputy chairwoman since June 2021, will be the longest-serving member of the board.

This also shows how restless things have been at Commerzbank, especially in the past two years.

On Wednesday, the Supervisory Board appointed the 47-year-old Austrian Sabine Mlnarsky as the successor to Sabine Schmittroth, who is leaving as Chief Human Resources Officer at the end of the year.

About two weeks ago, the FAZ reported exclusively on Mlnarsky's forthcoming commitment.

The lawyer comes - officially on January 1, 2023 - from Erste Group AG.

With the exception of a detour to the Lufthansa subsidiary Austrian Airlines from 2013 to 2016, she had worked in human resources management at the leading institute of the Austrian savings banks since 2001, but did not make it onto the board there.

Gottschalk is hoping for "fresh impetus" from Mlnarsky and that she will "intensify the spirit of optimism in the company".

In May 2021, Commerzbank decided to cut 10,000 jobs, i.e. about every third job, and to largely replace them with digital processes.

With almost 7,000 termination agreements by mid-June, the majority of the necessary agreements had been made, CEO Manfred Knof had just reported in an interview with the FAZ.

At the beginning of 2022, Commerzbank had already engaged Thomas Schaufler, also from Erste Bank, for Schmittroth's tasks as a private customer board member.

Former IKB Bank board member Jörg Oliveri del Castillo-Schulz replaced IT board member Jörg Hessenmüller.

All three new board members came from outside.

According to reports, the chairman of the supervisory board, Gottschalk, is also looking outside Commerzbank for candidates for the post of risk director for Chromik.