Bank job cuts approach 60,000 as Commerzbank plans to swing axe

FRANKFURT: Job cuts announced by banks this year are approaching 60,000, almost all of them in Europe, where negative interest rates and a slowing economy prompt lenders including Germany’s Commerzbank AG to step up cost reductions.

Commerzbank said last week it plans to eliminate 4,300 positions, deepening a restructuring that started three years ago. That brings the total disclosed this year to about 58,200, with roughly 90% of those cuts in Europe.