Commerzbank will cut up to 3,000 jobs to help it reach more ambitious profit targets as it battles to fend off a hostile takeover bid from Italy's UniCredit, the German bank said on Friday.
For months, the Italian and German lenders have been in a standoff, pitting UniCredit CEO Andrea Orcel and his expansion plans against a German lender critical for the financing of Europe's largest economy and its financial hub, Frankfurt.
"The Bank's continued transformation is accompanied by a group-wide reduction of up to a further 3,000 gross positions," Commerzbank said in a first-quarter financial report on Friday.
The German government has repeatedly spoken out in favor of Commerzbank's independence, and Chancellor Friedrich Merz on Thursday accused UniCredit of "aggressive and hostile" moves that "destroyed trust."
"UniCredit's communicated plan remains vague and bears considerable execution risks, while using misleading narratives that discredit Commerzbank," the bank said on Friday.
The staff cuts mark a third round of layoffs in recent years. Commerzbank shed 10,000 people, or a third of its German workforce, earlier this decade and announced plans to cut another 3,900 last year. Orcel has made clear that he would slash the Frankfurt-based headquarters.
Overall, Commerzbank currently employs some 40,000 people, around 25,000 of them in Germany.
Lower costs and higher profits boost a company's share price, making any takeover more expensive.
Milan-based UniCredit formally launched a 35-billion-euro ($41-billion) hostile takeover bid for Commerzbank on Tuesday, about a year and a half after it first revealed in September 2024 that it had built up a stake in the German lender.
That triggered talk that UniCredit's Orcel was pushing for a European banking merger. UniCredit is now Commerzbank's largest shareholder, holding almost 27% of the bank.
Last month, Orcel presented his own restructuring plan for Commerzbank, which foresaw cost efficiencies of 1.3 billion euros and staff cuts of 7,000.
Speaking on an earnings call, Commerzbank CEO Bettina Orlopp said management was at odds with the bank's single largest owner.
"We have fundamentally different views on the business model that are hard to reconcile," she said, accusing UniCredit of not wanting "to find common ground."
Known for financing Germany's prized network of small- and medium-sized industrial champions, Commerzbank is dear to many Germans, and the prospect of an Italian takeover has been far from welcome.
On Thursday, Merz said that Germany rejects hostile and aggressive takeovers in the banking sector.
"This is not how one treats institutions such as a bank in Germany, namely Commerzbank. This is how trust is destroyed, not how new trust is fostered," he said.
Berlin also still holds a 12.1% stake in Commerzbank, the legacy of a 2008 bailout during the global financial crisis.
Commerzbank staff have also opposed the potential takeover.
Verdi union official Kevin Voss said in a statement on Friday that Orcel had "burned through any trust" and that a takeover would threaten up to 15,000 positions at Commerzbank.
Several rounds of restructuring followed in the years after UniCredit's 2005 acquisition of German lender HypoVereinsbank, leading to the loss of thousands of jobs.
Presenting first-quarter results and new targets, Commerzbank said it planned to invest 600 million euros into AI between 2026 and 2030, expecting annual savings of 500 million euros a year by 2030.
Asked on the call if AI could help Commerzbank to slow down its hiring in the future, Orlopp said the bank would review the situation.
"We're very socially responsible in doing the headcount reduction," she said. "It is, however, clear that we have such speed in AI technology and development that we will definitely review the situation year by year, quarter by quarter."
The nation's No. 2 bank is hoping that the targets unveiled on Friday will convince investors it can thrive as an independent company.
Commerzbank now expects its cost-income ratio – a measure of underlying profitability where lower is better – to be 46% and 41% in 2028 and 2030, down from the previously promised 48% and 43%.
First-quarter net profit came in at 913 million euros, up 9.5% on the same time last year, boosted by the bank keeping a lid on costs as well as a record quarter for commission income, based on providing services like bond issuance and stock-broking.
"High market volatility" and a buoyant stock market helped boost the segment, Commerzbank said.
The bank raised its guidance for 2026 and now expects a net result of 3.4 billion euros for the year, up from over 3.2 billion euros.
Among the upgraded goals, the bank now projects revenue of 15 billion euros in 2028, up from an earlier target of 14.2 billion euros, and a 2028 profit of 4.6 billion euros, better than its previous goal of 4.2 billion euros.
