Good financial start to the year Commerzbank cuts thousands of jobs and aims for more profit
Commerzbank, under pressure from Unicredit, wants to convince investors of its independent future through further job cuts and more ambitious profit targets. The German financial institution plans to cut a further 3,000 full-time jobs across the group by 2030.
08.05.2026, 07:50
08.05.2026, 07:52
SDA
At the same time, jobs are to be created "in growth and future-oriented areas", Commerzbank announced on Friday. As recently as February 2025, Commerzbank announced the reduction of 3,900 full-time positions by the end of 2027, the majority of them in Germany. At the end of 2025, the bank had just under 40,000 full-time employees worldwide.
Good start to the year
Commerzbank performed better in the first quarter of 2026 than a year earlier. With an operating profit of around 1.36 billion euros and a net profit of 913 million euros, the Frankfurt-based bank outperformed the same quarter of the previous year by around ten percent and also exceeded analysts' expectations.
Despite high costs for the ongoing job cuts, Commerzbank's net profit for the full year 2025 of just over EUR 2.6 billion was only just short of its record profit of just under EUR 2.7 billion in 2024.
As part of its revised strategy, Commerzbank now expects more profit for 2026 than before: it is now planning a net profit of at least 3.4 billion euros, which is 200 million euros more than previously targeted. By 2028, the result is expected to rise more strongly than previously planned to 4.6 billion, and by 2030, the bottom line should be 5.9 billion euros.
Major shareholder Unicredit exerts pressure
Unicredit CEO Andrea Orcel recently publicly criticized what he sees as Commerzbank's "below-average operating performance" for years. Without a realignment, the bank's survival is at risk in the medium term. Unicredit, for its part, posted the highest quarterly profit in its history in the first quarter of 2026 at 3.2 billion euros.
Unicredit, which according to the latest information controls just under 30 percent of Commerzbank shares and intends to secure further shares in the coming weeks through an exchange offer, recently published a restructuring program in the event of a Commerzbank takeover.
Commerzbank's management, works council and staff have been resisting what they see as Orcel's "hostile" tactics for months. The German government also rejects a hostile takeover of Commerzbank by Unicredit. The federal government, which saved the Frankfurt-based bank from collapse during the 2008/2009 financial crisis with billions in taxpayers' money, still holds a good 12 percent of the shares in the DAX-listed group.
