Postbank eyes Europe as rivals mull consolidation

By Jonathan Gould

ELTVILLE, Germany, April 26 (Reuters) - Germany's big commercial banks are mulling merger options in the wake of the international financial crisis and keen foreign competition, with Deutsche Postbank (DPBGn.DE: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) eyeing a European solution.

The German retail banking head of Deutsche Bank (DBKGn.DE: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), Juergen Fitschen, said he would favour seeing the country's four big commercial banks -- Deutsche, Dresdner Bank, Commerzbank (CBKG.DE: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) and Postbank -- form two big groups that could better compete internationally.

"From my point of view, it would be desirable to bring it into the formula four equals two plus two, so that we would have two big retail banks in Germany that could then play a role on a European basis," Fitschen told a banking conference on Friday.

Remarks made at the conference, organised by the Financial Times Deutschland newspaper, were set for release on Saturday.

"We have to consolidate because our neighbours have all gotten much bigger," Fitschen said.

Reacting to Fitschen's comments, Postbank Chief Executive Wolfgang Klein made clear he was considering options beyond Germany's borders.

"Making two (banks) out of four is not a necessity," Klein said, adding he was looking at banking consolidation "thoroughly in a European context".

Deutsche Post DWPGn.DE is assessing what to do with its controlling stake in Postbank, Germany's biggest retail bank and a potential prize acquisition in the country's overcrowded and fragmented banking market.