Commerzbank Severance Pay & Partial Retirement 2026

Job cuts at Commerzbank: status as of October 2026

At Commerzbank, two waves of job cuts are now running in parallel. In February 2025, the bank announced around 3,900 full-time job cuts by 2028 under its “Momentum” strategy programme, about 3,300 of them at Commerzbank AG in Germany (Commerzbank; Business Insider). On 8 May 2026, management followed up with “Momentum 2030”: by 2030, around 3,000 further full-time jobs are to go group-wide, with the bank budgeting around €450 million in restructuring costs (WirtschaftsWoche, 8 May 2026).

For context: at the end of 2025, the group employed 39,867 full-time staff. At the same time, the bank plans to create new jobs in growth areas such as the digital brand comdirect and in asset management. So the cuts are more of a shift than a pure shrinking course. For you, though, only one question matters: is your job on the list, and what is being offered to you in return?

Partial retirement at Commerzbank: €50,000 bonus, running to age 65

The most important tool for employees close to retirement age is partial retirement (Altersteilzeit). In September 2025, the works council and management agreed an early-start version of the scheme, running to age 65 rather than just to the earliest possible pension start at 63. According to works council chair Sascha Uebel, demand was “significantly higher than we expected”: almost half of those contacted signed up in the first round (Handelsblatt, 13 October 2025). The cuts under “Momentum 2030” are also meant to run through standard retirement and partial retirement, with WirtschaftsWoche reporting an extra €50,000 bonus.

What to check in an partial retirement offer:

• Pension start and deductions. Every month you retire before your standard retirement age costs 0.3% of your pension, for life. The longer scheme running to 65 reduces these deductions. We explain how you can offset deductions with severance pay under Severance pay and pension.
• Top-up pay and pension contributions. The Partial Retirement Act (Altersteilzeitgesetz) sets a benchmark of topping up pay by at least 20% and additional pension contributions on 80% of standard pay (§ 3 AltTZG). Check exactly what your own agreement provides.
• The bonus in context. €50,000 sounds like a lot. What matters is comparing it with what a termination agreement with severance pay, or working on until your standard retirement age, would be worth to you, net and over the full period you draw your pension.

Framework social plan and protection against dismissal: your starting position

For the 2025 programme, a framework social plan (Rahmensozialplan) and a framework reconciliation of interests (Rahmeninteressenausgleich) have been agreed with employee representative bodies (Commerzbank; WirtschaftsWoche). The tools: partial retirement for employees close to pension age, early retirement arrangements as a bridge to pension, and termination agreements with severance pay for everyone else. The legal basis for the social plan and reconciliation of interests is § 112 BetrVG.

On top of that, there is an agreement between ver.di, the group works council and management, under which operational dismissals are effectively ruled out (ver.di, 16 June 2026). This fundamentally changes your negotiating position: the bank can only reach its job-cutting targets if enough employees leave voluntarily. So if you receive an offer, you are negotiating in a process where the bank needs your agreement. Our guide on social plan severance pay shows how social plan formulas typically calculate payouts.

UniCredit: where the takeover offer stands in October 2026

On 5 May 2026, UniCredit submitted an exchange offer for Commerzbank shares (0.485 new UniCredit shares per Commerzbank share). By the end of the additional acceptance period on 3 July 2026, 17.6% of shares had been tendered (Commerzbank; exchange ratio according to ZDF). That stage is now complete: after the additional acceptance period, UniCredit holds 47.59% of the capital, which, because of Commerzbank’s own non-voting shares, equals 49.65% of the voting rights (Börse Express, 13 July 2026; ZDFheute, 8 July 2026). The next threshold is the one that matters for employees: a full merger would, according to Börse Express, require 75%, and that remains out of reach. Just under 50% of the voting rights is therefore not the same as a merger. Management and the supervisory board have recommended that shareholders not accept the offer (EQS, 18 May 2026); according to ver.di, the federal government, also a shareholder, rejects it too.

One figure is especially relevant for employees: in the event of a merger with HypoVereinsbank, UniCredit’s plan reportedly envisages around 7,000 full-time jobs disappearing in Germany, according to WirtschaftsWoche; ver.di warns of cuts especially at the head offices in Frankfurt and Munich. There is no binding workforce plan for a merger so far. So put this figure in context: it depends on a merger for which the 75% threshold is missing. The jobs actually being decided on in 2026 are the roughly 3,000 under “Momentum 2030” and the roughly 3,900 from the 2025 programme, and there the cuts run through partial retirement, standard retirement and termination agreements, meaning offers you can negotiate.

What does this mean for your decision? An offer on the table today is known, in writing and negotiable. Nobody can seriously predict whether a future programme under different circumstances would be better or worse. So if you have an offer today, judge it on its own merits, not on rumours.

Severance pay, partial retirement or early retirement: the calculation

The three paths work very differently. Severance pay is paid immediately, is exempt from social security contributions and benefits from favourable tax treatment under the one-fifth rule, but risks a benefit suspension period or a pause in unemployment benefit if the agreement is poorly worded (Termination agreement and unemployment benefit). Partial retirement and early retirement are more predictable but cost you through pension deductions and reduced pay, and tie you to the course of the restructuring.

Which option wins out for you depends on your age group, pension points, entitlement to unemployment benefit and what comes next, not on gut feeling. For employees close to retirement age, we have set out the details in two guides: Severance pay for older employees and Severance pay and pension.

Received an offer? Check it before you sign

Check: the amount against the social plan and your profile, the risk of a benefit suspension period, the notice period (§ 158 SGB III), offset clauses (for example against unemployment benefit), waiver and settlement clauses (outstanding bonuses) and the tax structuring. Upload your document, and the critical points are flagged automatically, at no upfront cost.

How it works with us

You tell us about your offer, lawyers specialising in employment law assess it, and if you instruct them, they negotiate on your behalf, funded via Team Abfindung acting as litigation funder. We carry the risk: purely success-based, no upfront cost. Here’s how the cost model works.