BERLIN, Sept. 27 (Xinhua) -- German Commerzbank announced far reaching cost-saving measures including job cuts as part of the company´s strategy "Commerzbank 5.0" on Friday.
According to the Commerzbank, the cutting of around 4,300 jobs and closing of 20 percent of its branches to a total of 800 was "regrettable but inevitable".
However, Commerzbank announced to create 2,000 new jobs in "strategically important areas" but did not make any specifications as the details would be discussed "over the next months in consultation with employee representatives".
"The aim is to make the planned headcount reduction as socially responsible as possible," Commerzbank stated.
Germany's second largest trade union ver.di criticized the planned staff reductions at Commerzbank. "There is no savings potential at all in the branches," stated Stefan Wittmann of ver.di.
Wittmann demanded to "allocate the existing staff to the remaining branches" in such a way that staff shortages and varying closing times of the bank's branches at short notice would be much less frequent in future.
Any further reduction in staff would be "followed critically" by ver.di, announced Wittmann, emphasizing that the top priority would be "socially acceptable solutions."
As part of the new strategy, Commerzbank also announced an investment of 750 million euros (819 million U.S. dollars) in digitalization of its portfolio and services as well as a decrease of the group's expenditures by 600 million euros by 2023.
"We are significantly reducing our cost base whilst making major investments in our distribution capability as well as the faster digitalization of the bank", commented Martin Zielke, chief executive officer (CEO) of Commerzbank AG.
In order to achieve the cost reductions, Commerzbank was also aiming to decrease annual costs of its IT division to one billion euros.
Furthermore, Commerzbank announced to sell its shares of Polish subsidiary mBank.
Commerzbank emphasized that mobile banking was one of its most important sectors. According to Commerzbank, already 1.2 million out of a total of 1.7 million of their daily "customer contacts" were already taking place through the mobile and online channels.
As the bank expected mobile usage to increase, Commerzbank is seeking to increase efficiency and to adjust to the individual needs of customers by using algorithms and gaining more data points.
