Commerzbank to cut up to 6,000 jobs Commerzbank plans to cut between 4,000 and 6,000 jobs as it attempts to hold down costs amid a battle for customers in German retail banking. The bank, Germany's second-largest by assets, is trying to turn round its underperforming domestic retail business as part of plans outlined to investors in November. Negotiations with staff unions were set to start in February with the job cuts implemented through to 2016, Commerzbank said. With 1,200 branches, Commerzbank has one of the largest retail networks in Germany after taking over rival Dresdner Bank in 2008. But low interest rates and scant demand for bank products has meant the retail operations never delivered the profits that were expected to be generated by the merger. People close to the bank have said the branch network remains lossmaking with profits earned at Commerzbank's internet bank, Comdirect. Local mutual and savings banks, online rivals, and Deutsche Bank - which bought Postbank, Germany's largest retail bank by customers at the time - have also all stepped up competition. Commerzbank plans to invest about €1bn in retail banking as well as holding down costs over the next four years and aims to increase retail operating profits to €500m - still only half what the bank hoped to be earning this year from retail banking, according to its plans following the Dresdner integration. The problems in retail banking are the latest blow to Commerzbank, which had to write off substantial holdings of Greek sovereign debt and is also burdened by its relatively high exposure to faltering sectors of the economy, including eurozone commercial property and global container shipping. The bank remains 25 per cent government-owned following a 2009 bailout and is again unlikely to pay investors a dividend this year.