Commerzbank to axe up to 6000 jobs

Commerzbank, Germany's second-biggest bank, is preparing to axe up to 10 percent of its workforce in the coming years, or 5,000-6,000 jobs, the weekly Die Zeit reported on Wednesday. Commerzbank is scheduled to publish its third-quarter results on Thursday where it is also set to announce large-scale cost cuts. A bank spokesman declined to comment on the newspaper report. Die Zeit, in a pre-release of an article to appear on Thursday, said Commerzbank is planning billions of euros in cost-cutting across all divisions between now and 2016. Previously, it was speculated that the retail banking division, which covers its network of high street banks, would bear the brunt of the job cuts. Die Zeit suggested the exact number of jobs being cut would not be announced Thursday, as negotiations with unions were still ongoing, a scenario confirmed to AFP by a source close to the talks.