Germany's partly state-owned Commerzbank on Thursday confirmed earlier rumors it would cut thousands of jobs over the next four years.

"All in all, we're aiming for between 4,000 and 6,000 full-time jobs to be cut by the end of 2016," the lender told the Reuters news agency.

According to a message posted on the bank's Intranet, the cuts would also affect the private customer business where Commerzbank's management saw "considerable over-capacities."

Tough negotiations ahead

The bank said the jobs in question would be cut both at home and abroad, but added that it's online subsidiary Comdirect and the Polish BRE Bank would not be included in the layoff scheme. The lender announced that part of its operations would be outsourced to nations boasting lower labor costs.

Commerzbank confirmed that the details concerning job cuts would still have to be negotiated with the staff council and trade unions. It said talks were scheduled to start in February.

While planning to lay off workers, the lender had announced earlier it was aiming to invest more than two billion euros ($2.66 billion) in making its core businesses more profitable. At present, Commerzbank employs 56,000 people around the world.

hg/msh (Reuters, AFP, dpa)