Germany's second-largest lender Commerzbank on Thursday reported sliding profits for 2019, as costs for job cuts linked to its restructuring weighed on the bottom line. Net profits dropped over 25 percent to 644 million euros ($701 million), the Frankfurt-based Commerzbank said, although it was able to make a slight improvement in operating profits.

Severance charges for some 4,300 employees worldwide struck especially in the final three months of 2019, as the group slashed its payroll to just over 40,000 people. After a failed bid early last year to merge with crosstown rival Deutsche Bank, Commerzbank is pressing ahead with restructuring and with digitising more of its internal processes.

The lender added almost half a million new retail and business clients last year, hoping the bigger base will make for fatter profits when eurozone interest rates eventually rise.