CommerzbankAG might cut more than 10,000 jobs, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, or FAZ, reported Sept. 23,while Reuters put the figure at 5,000 the day before, with both publicationsciting sources.

FAZ said 10,000lay-offs among the lender's 51,300-strong workforce might turn out to be astretch, but added that job cuts would be "substantial" if, as waspreviously reported,Commerzbank combines its medium-sized firm lending division with its investmentarm.

Reuters said there would be more lay-offs than the 1,500figure that had been under internal discussions at the bank, with 5,000 jobcuts being "plausible," according to one of its unnamed sources. Thenews agency pointed out that this would mean that one out of 10 jobs would go,nearly the same ratio as the planned cuts at the country's largest lender,Deutsche Bank AG.

Commerzbank has determined that its centralized back officesare vastly overstaffed and that about 2,000 positions could be cut there,another Reuters source said.