FRANKFURT (Reuters) - Commerzbank (DE:CBKG) is planning to cut thousands of jobs as it revamps its strategy to contend with the drag on earnings from ultra low interest rates and lackluster demand for loans, sources familiar with the bank's thinking said.
Employees must gird themselves for substantially higher losses than a figure of 1,500 jobs that was under recent internal discussion at Germany's second biggest bank, the sources said.
The focus in recent media reports has been on job losses stemming from what sources previously said would be a major restructuring of Commerzbank's division working with medium-sized "Mittelstand" companies.
However, one of the sources cited internal calculations that showed centralized back office functions employed around 2,000 people too many.
The extent of the cull is not yet finalised but Commerzbank Chief Executive Martin Zielke is expected to present to the plans to a meeting of the bank's supervisory board next week.
A Commerzbank spokesman declined comment.