Italy fears that UniCredit may shift its central offices to Germany as part of any deal with Commerzbank, government officials said, adding Rome expects to have a say in the matter based on its 'golden power' rules.

Commerzbank shares surged on Wednesday after Italy’s biggest bank UniCredit bought a minority stake, triggering speculation a full merger could occur.

A senior German banker said there a several reasons why a takeover of Commerzbank AG by UniCredit SpA could be beneficial, demonstrating that the strong opposition to the potential deal by the country’s government isn’t a national consensus.