Unicredit to cut up to 1,000 jobs in Germany by end-2014: source

Unicredit plans to cut up to 1,000 jobs at its German operations until the end of next year in a bid to cut costs at its ailing retail bank, a source familiar with the matter told Reuters on Wednesday.

Unicredit's German unit, which employs roughly 19,000 staff, will close almost 50 branches and thin out staff at the remaining ones, as customers increasingly switch to internet banking and rely less on face-to-face services, the person said.

Separately, some jobs will be shed as part of a structural overhaul that will split the bank's German in operations into two units - one for private clients and one for corporate customers.

The figure for job cuts has yet to be finalised and formal negotiations with labour representatives will start shortly another source said.

This year, the bank will cut 600 jobs, the second source said, confirming an earlier report of daily Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung.

Unicredit declined to comment.

(Reporting by Arno Schuetze and Andreas Kr��ner; editing by Maria Sheahan and Edward Taylor)