Commerzbank to cut 3,000 jobs as UniCredit takeover fight intensifies

Commerzbank escalated its defensive restructuring on Friday, announcing 3,000 more job cuts and higher profit targets as it tried to convince investors that the Frankfurt lender can grow stronger on its own and resist UniCredit’s takeover push.

The German bank said the latest layoffs would come with about 450 million euros in restructuring costs, but management is betting the short-term pain will buy it time and political cover. By lifting earnings goals, Commerzbank is signaling that a slimmer cost base and stronger returns could make it more valuable as an independent company than as a target for Italy’s UniCredit, which has been pressing for a combination that would create one of Europe’s larger cross-border banking groups.

The latest cuts deepen a restructuring that has already reshaped the lender’s German footprint. Commerzbank announced 3,900 full-time job reductions on February 13, 2025, mainly in Germany, while saying its full-time headcount would remain broadly stable at 36,700 because it would hire in selected international locations. The new reductions add to a program that has already eliminated roughly 10,000 jobs, or about a third of its German workforce, earlier this decade.

At the same time, Commerzbank sharpened its financial ambitions. The bank raised full-year profit guidance to at least 3.4 billion euros, up from more than 3.2 billion euros, and set new mid-term targets that include 16.8 billion euros in revenue and 5.9 billion euros in net profit by 2030. That came after an earlier strategy update in February 2025, when the lender targeted 2027 net profit of 3.8 billion euros and a cost-to-income ratio of 53 percent, compared with prior goals of 3.6 billion euros and 54 percent.

The strategy shift comes against a heated ownership battle that has become politically sensitive in Germany. UniCredit received European Central Bank authorization on March 14, 2025, to acquire a direct stake of up to 29.9 percent in Commerzbank, then launched an unsolicited bid on March 16, 2026, to increase that stake above 30 percent, a level that can trigger a mandatory offer under German law. German federal government officials have also explored a larger state stake to help block the bid, while the government already holds about 12 percent of Commerzbank.

For Berlin, the stakes go beyond one bank. Commerzbank is deeply tied to Frankfurt and plays a major role in financing Germany’s export-driven economy. Andrea Orcel has made clear that UniCredit would trim the Frankfurt headquarters if it succeeded, intensifying concern that a takeover could shift jobs, influence and strategic control out of Germany. Commerzbank, which said it achieved a record result in 2024 and used that momentum for its strategy upgrade to 2028, is now trying to prove that a harder, faster turnaround can close the door on UniCredit before the market does.