FRANKFURT--Germany's Commerzbank AG (CBK.XE) is considering
selling its custody services unit as part of a strategic overhaul
to improve profitability, a person familiar with the transaction
told Dow Jones Newswires, confirming a report by Bloomberg.
The unit, which currently has 94 billion euros ($122.7 billion)
of assets under custody, is expected to attract strategic players
like Bank of New York Mellon Corp (BK) or State Street Corp (STT),
and could be valued at above EUR200 million, according to the
report.
The bank has recently also weighed outsourcing its equity
research to Frankfurt-based brokerage and financial services
company Mainfirst, but decided against it, several people familiar
with the matter have said. A spokesman for Commerzbank declined to
comment on the information.
Germany's second largest bank by assets is expected to present
details of a plan to improve profitability at a strategy
presentation Nov. 8.
People familiar with the matter told Dow Jones Newswires in
September that the bank is considering cutting between 1,000 and
1,800 retail banking jobs.
A further merging of neighboring retail branches, more flexible
branch opening hours and better integration of the online banking
business helped by a "low-three-digit-million euros" investment in
information technology are also being considered, these people had
said.
Commerzbank is also set to say that it wants to avoid any
increase in costs until 2016, German magazine Der Spiegel reported.
Based on the assumption that costs will rise by between 3% and 5%
annually, this could translate into cost cuts of more than EUR1
billion.
Write to Eyk Henning at eyk.henning@dowjones.com
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