According to Italian media reports on September 30th, sources said that the CEO of UniCredit, Italy's second-largest bank, Andrea Orcel, participated in a video conference with senior executives of Commerzbank, the second-largest bank in Germany. Bettina Orlopp, the incoming CEO of Commerzbank, also attended the meeting. UniCredit had earlier increased its shareholding in Commerzbank to 9%, becoming the second-largest shareholder after the German government. UniCredit has also applied to the German regulatory institutions to hold up to 30% of Commerzbank and entered into derivative contracts to quickly increase its stake to 21%. The incident has led to speculations in the market that UniCredit may be interested in acquiring Commerzbank. The German government has made it clear that they do not support UniCredit's acquisition of Commerzbank. Last Friday, the management of Commerzbank met with the management of UniCredit to discuss the matter. UniCredit declined to comment on the above information, stating that the group management met with Commerzbank as a shareholder.