UniCredit's acquisition of Commerzbank could prompt Moody's to consider raising its rating on the Italian bank's riskier debt, the credit rating agency said on Wednesday. Moody's affirmed UniCredit's long-term senior unsecured debt rating at 'Baa1' - two notches above Italy's 'Baa3' rating and already as high as it can go under Moody's methodology.

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.

UniCredit announced it had increased its stake in German lender Commerzbank to 21% and submitted a request to boost the holding to up to 29.9%.