Commerzbank announced a sweeping round of layoffs on Friday. The sudden announcement laid out that 3,000 jobs will be lost, as the German lender re-focuses its operations and plans to offload millions of euros for a massive artificial intelligence investment over the next few years.
The shocking decision was tied to the bank raising its financial targets and other strategy shifts for the coming years in its bid to fend off a potential takeover from Italy’s UniCredit. The German private banking company’s move particularly comes after UniCredit officially launched its attempts to take control at a below-market price of 37 billion euros ($43.43 billion).
Commerzbank layoffs announced
Having previously let go of 10,000 people, or a third of its German workforce, earlier this decade, Commerzbank announced its plans to cut 3,900 last year. With the latest round of layoffs, which marks third in recent years, the bank also highlighted around 450 million euros would be accounted for in restructuring costs due to the job cuts.
In a bid to further integrated artificial intelligence into its operations, the bank said it plans to invest 600 million euros into AI between 2026 and 2030, according to The Wall Street Journal.
As part of its upgraded goals, which it has laid out to make a case to retain its independence, the nation’s No. 2 bank has projected revenue of 15 billion euros in 2028. The figure has gone up from an earlier target of 14.2 billion euros. Meanwhile, the bank also hopes churn out a 2028 profit of 4.6 billion euros, higher from the previous goal of 4.2 billion euros.
These numbers aren’t far-fetched either, as analysts had already predicted the bank would cross its 2029 targets specified last year.
Meanwhile, Andrea Orcel, the CEO of UniCredit, which is Commerzbank’s largest shareholder with a stake of just under 30%, also presented his own new plans for the bank, estimating cost efficiencies of 1.3 billion euros and 7,000 layoffs.