BERLIN: Management and employees’ representatives at Commerzbank, Germany’s second-biggest bank, have agreed in principle on cutting more than 5,000 jobs worldwide, according to a German newspaper.

The Handelsblatt business daily, citing sources close to the negotiations, said the jobs would be slashed over the coming years.

The work’s council is due to vote on the agreement on 19 June, it added. The bank declined to comment on the report.

Commerzbank, which last month posted a first-quarter loss due to heavy restructuring costs, had already said it aimed to reach agreement with staff representatives by the summer after talks began in February.

It announced in January that it would axe 4,000 to 6,000 jobs – or more than one in 10 members of its workforce – over the next three years as it tots up the toll from the financial and sovereign debt crisis.

The job losses are expected to particularly hit Commerzbank’s retail or high-street banking division, which is suffering from low profitability. At the end of March, the bank employed around 54,000 employees.

(AFP)