Commerzbank will delete 3,900 jobs to win margin against Unicredit

The second largest retail bank in Germany uses about 20,000 people in this country. Until the end of 2027 will suppress around 3,900 jobs Full time, 3,300 of them in Germany, as part of their new strategy, more aggressive, to gain margin of maneuver in the defensive battle against the Italian Bank Unicredit. At the same time, it plans to create new jobs in other areas, such as the Polish Mbank and in Asia headquarters, so that the number of employees of the Commerzbank group will remain practically constant in 36,700 positions worldwide, but with more weight in The most business areas.

The cuts in Germany will mainly affect the headquarters and other locations in Frankfurt, especially the functions of personnel and the back office. “So that this transformation process is socially acceptable, Commerzbank is essentially committed to demographic changes and natural fluctuations,” the entity has announced during its presentation of results. The group’s benefit is expected to increase more than half, up to 4.2 billion eurosin 2028, and that the yield of their own funds increases at 5.8 percentage points to 15% in the same period.

For an institution that operates mainly in the German market, highly competitive, this would be a very high value. The profitability of their own funds is the key figure to measure the profitability of financial entities and “we have established a strong starting point and now we can take advantage of market opportunities and technological progress,” the executive director, Bettina Orlopp, has presumed. «In this way, we will make Commerzbank even better and more effective.”

The key points of the partial retirement program that are expected to enter into force this year have already been agreed with the workers’ representatives, who have been comprehensive with the situation. Commerzbank is under great pressure since Unicredit took advantage of the partial departure of the federal government in autumn to make a large -scale investment in Commerzbank. The important Milan -based bank currently controls 28 percent of the group’s sharesof which it has about 9.5 percent directly through shares and around 18.6 percent through financial instruments. Andrea Orcel, CEO of Unicredit, continues to acquire Commerzbank, but there is still no offer from the Italians. Only if your participation reached 30 percent, Unicredit would be legally obliged to present an acquisition offer to Commerzbank’s shareholders.

The Commerzbank Company Committee and Committee defend what they consider “hostile” actions by the Italians and are supported their resistance by German politics, but the fact that the “semaphore coalition” led By Olaf Scholz and the call for early elections for February 23, he has left the German bank in a situation of unprotection. The federal government, which rescued the bank with billions of dollars in tax revenues during the financial crisis of 2008/2009, It still has more than 12 percent of the shares. Bettina Orlopp, CEO since October 1, wants to ensure the independence of Commerzbank through greater benefits and more ambitious objectives

After just under 2.7 billion euros last year, it promises a surplus that increases to 4,200 million euros in 2028. However, It is likely that the benefits will fall to 2.4 billion euros this year Because the layoffs will cost money initially. The bank expects these costs to amount to about 700 million euros this year. Meanwhile, the Board of Directors promises to shareholders great benefits distributions: plans to pay more than 100 percent of their profits to shareholders until 2025. For the 2026 to 2028, Orlopp foresees a payment ratio of one hundred percent, But it conditions it to the implementation of the strategy and the economic environment. In her profit plans, the manager not only bets on the suppression of jobs and cost reduction, but also for constant growth of income, especially for commissions. Although last year the bank’s costs consumed 59 percent of its income, Orlopp aspires to reach around 57 percent by 2025 and that this figure falls only around 50 percent by 2028.