Bank merger may cost 30 000 jobs

A MERGER of Deutsche Bank and its rival Commerzbank could result in as many as 30 000 job cuts over the long term, a representative of German union Verdi who is a Deutsche supervisory board member told n-tv. A top investor in Deutsche Bank also expressed doubts about a potential merger. The fierce opposition from the union and shareholder reservations come after both banks on Sunday confirmed talks about a merger and underlines the obstacles to efforts to combine Germany’s two biggest banks. Most of the 30 000 positions at risk are based in Germany, Verdi’s Jan Duscheck said, according to comments published by the TV station yesterday. Over the short term there are 10 000 jobs under threat, Duscheck added. However, the initial market reaction was positive.