You always meet twice in life. This motto is one of the golden career rules for job hoppers. It also applies to Christiane Vorspel, future Chief Operating Officer, i.e. a member of the Board of Managing Directors for IT at Commerzbank. As is so often the case, it paid off for both sides that no scorched earth was left behind when she left.

In any case, the Supervisory Board is confident that the returnee will find it easy to drive forward Commerzbank's digitalisation and cloud strategy. After all, the computer scientist has spent at least 15 years in various project and management roles at Commerzbank, not just in IT but also in customer business.

The fact that the manager, who is described as highly friendly, has been brought back into the Group should be a balm for many a Commerzbank soul weary of transformation. Since the escalation between the former CEO Martin Zielke and the activist investor Cerberus, it is not only the Group's Board of Managing Directors that resembles a dovecote. The staff cuts fuelled by the use of Sprinter bonuses have also ensured that no stone has been left unturned at the levels below.

This was a necessary culture shock for a group that had seemed to be stewing in its own juices for decades. Commerzbank careers, especially male careers, used to start with the bank apprenticeship and end with the retirement party.

The result was a certain institutional inertia in which wrong decisions were tolerated for far too long. Only when top positions were filled externally was it possible to push through even painful management decisions to make the bank fit for the future.

The other side of the coin was the loss of internal expertise. Commerzbank now has to buy some of this back at a high price in the midst of a shortage of skilled labour. The appointment of Vorspel indicates that the pendulum is now swinging in the other direction again — and that it is utilising the talent that it once built up itself.