Commerzbank to cut 3,000 German jobs, invest €600m in AI

Commerzbank will cut about 3,000 jobs in Germany, roughly 8% of its workforce, while committing €600 million to artificial intelligence projects over the next four years under its Momentum 2030 plan.

The bank stated the investment is intended to accelerate profitable growth, improve efficiency and speed technological innovation.

Commerzbank expects the AI program to generate around €500 million of additional value each year from 2030 and expects it will free up and partially redeploy about 10% of current capacities.

Planned applications include a complaints-management system using agentic AI, Hawk AI for detecting money laundering and other financial crime by analyzing large datasets, and AI-supported review of annual reports to identify risks earlier.

In later phases, the bank plans to deploy AI agents across end-to-end processes such as account switching, know-your-customer checks, document verification and contract drafting, with the goal of reducing labor-intensive tasks.

Commerzbank reported first-quarter profit rose 11% to €1.4 billion, and revenue increased 5% to €3.2 billion. Management is targeting full-year revenues of €15 billion by 2028 and €16.8 billion by 2030.

In a statement the bank added, “With Momentum 2030, the bank will leverage the potential of AI even more.”

Chief executive Bettina Orlopp commented, “We started the year with record-level results. This proves that our strategy is working – and that it has more potential than originally planned. We are growing more strongly than expected, and our new targets through 2030 reflect this – ambitious while remaining reliable in their execution.”

The announcement coincides with an attempted takeover bid by Italy’s UniCredit. Commerzbank noted that any alternative must be measured against the Momentum 2030 targets.

Santander has estimated its AI investments will deliver more than €1 billion in annual business value by 2028 through cost savings and revenue growth. A financial-institutions sentiment survey found 59% of respondents reported AI-driven productivity gains in the past year, up from 32% the year before; 21% said AI is directly driving business growth, up from 8%; and 33% reported improved customer experience and deeper customer insights.

The bank did not provide a detailed timeline for when the job reductions will take place or specify which roles will be affected, saying only that the changes will significantly reduce labor-intensive tasks and enable redeployment of certain capacities.