Thousands of technology and back office jobs are set to be axed following Commerzbank's EUR8.8 billion acquisition of Dresdner Bank from insurance giant Allianz.
In a statement Commerzbank says that of around 9000 full-time positions that will be made redundant, about "70% of these relate to back office, control and production units, as well as in investment banking".
Most of the job losses will be in Germany as back offices and technology systems belonging to the two banks are integrated.
Around 300 retail branches will be closed in Germany by 2012, leaving the combined group with a network of approximately 1200 branches.
Of 2500 job cuts outside of Germany, about 1000 are expected to go in the City of London, mainly at investment bank arm Dresdner Kleinwort.
Eric Strutz, CFO and chief human resources officer, Commerzbank, says: "We regret the job reductions, though they are unavoidable. However, only a strong bank can offer secure jobs over the long term."
Commerzbank says that, with the combination scheduled for the second half of 2009, there will be no enforced redundancies until the end of 2011.