The number of branches had fallen to 1,100 from 1,600 since Commerzbank's takeover of rival Dresdner Bank six years ago, permitting the group to cut out a level of management, he said in the summary of a Handelsblatt article sent to media ahead of publication.

The company will also significantly cut back the number of products it has on offer, Zielke was quoted as saying.

The restructuring will affect 160 managers but not result in the net reduction of overall group staffing, nor are there plans to reduce the number of retail branches further, a spokesman for the bank told Reuters.

(Reporting by Thomas Atkins; Editing by Elaine Hardcastle)