The German-based Commerzbank could end up downsizing its workforce of 56,000 employees by as many as 6,000 as part of a plan to invest over €2bn in an overhaul of its retail banking operations. The bank is Germany’s second most active lender, but it was downgraded last summer by Moody’s and was awarded a negative outlook. At fault, said the agency, was the bank’s exposure to the European Union’s periphery economies. The job cuts are scheduled to take place by 2016. Commerzbank was one of the banks to have been bailed out in 2008 as the financial crisis gathered force.
