Italy’s UniCredit is set to receive unconditional antitrust approval of its takeover of Commerzbank, crossing the final hurdle for its acquisition, Reuters has reported.

Citing people with direct knowledge of the matter, the newswire said that the EU’s executive body, the European Commission, will give the deal the green light by 16 November. This underscores the bloc’s recent push for cross-border banking acquisitions in a bid to create what Reuters called “European champions”.

The decision follows European Central Bank approval for the merger last month.

UniCredit’s chief executive, Andrea Orcel, said on Monday that the remaining regulatory approvals for the deal were likely to come before the end of November, after which the bank “intend[s] to immediately ask Commerzbank to convene an extraordinary general meeting to elect new shareholder representatives to its supervisory board”.

People familiar with the process told Reuters that the EU competition watchdog initially had legal concerns about the German government’s demand that it maintain two supervisory seats on Commerzbank’s board.

UniCredit has challenged this demand, instead hoping to appoint all ten shareholder representatives on the Commerzbank’s 20-strong board. Berlin has held two seats on the supervisory board since its bailout of the bank in 2009.

The people told the publication that the legal issue around board seats is separate to the Commission’s assessment of the merger but may prove important for future deals.

Board representation was initially one of the core issues in discussions with UniCredit, but concern has since moved to safeguarding jobs, small business lending and Commerzbank’s Frankfurt headquarters and stock market listing, Reuters said.

UniCredit’s acquisition of Commerzbank may pave the way for further consolidation in the EU’s banking sector. This week, it was reported that French lender Crédit Agricole proposed merging its Italian operations with Banco BPM in a deal that would create Italy’s third-largest banking group.

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