Up to 6,000 IT jobs may be lost as part of Commerzbank's £7.9bn purchase of Dresdner Bank announced today, with some cuts expected in London offices.

As a result of the merger scheduled for the second half of 2009, Commerzbank said that some 9,000 full-time positions overall will become redundant, of which 2,500 will be outside Germany.

Around 70 per cent of job cuts will be in back-office, control and production units, and investment banking.

"We regret the job reductions, though they are unavoidable. However, only a strong bank can offer secure jobs over the long term," said Eric Strutz, chief financial officer and chief human resources officer at Commerzbank.

There will be no enforced redundancies until the end of 2011.

Dresdner has an investment bank arm in London, Dresdner Kleinwort, where some cuts are expected.

Dresdner Kleinwort declined to comment.