German lender Commerzbank will shed more than 5,000 jobs, 10 percent of its workforce, under a preliminary deal with staff representatives to cut costs, a person close to the company told Reuters on Tuesday. While two people familiar with the negotiations said the two sides have in principle agreed the extent of the cutbacks, a labour source dismissed the number of more than 5,000 jobs as "clearly too high".
Commerzbank declined to comment while a spokeswoman for trade union Verdi described the number of jobs affected as "inexplicable". The lender is retrenching as part of a 2 billion euro ($2.7 billion) overhaul announced in November, which includes a revamp of its retail business in Germany. Labour representatives have sought to avoid compulsory redundancies. Flagging the cuts, Chief Financial Officer Stephan Engels said in May that 2013 would be a year of transition for the bank, which posted a net loss of 94 million euros in the first three months as it booked a 493 million euro restructuring charge linked to 4,000-6,000 job losses.