Dresdner Bank, Germany's third largest bank will today announce restructuring plans that are expected to lead to a cut of about 5,000 jobs in its retail-banking operation.

The bank wants to reduce costs in the underperforming retail division by closing up to a third of its 1,150 branches, shedding about 10 per cent of its 51,000 staff. The restructuring following the collapse of a proposed merger with Deutsche Bank is aimed at reducing costs to raise the return on equity from 9.8 per cent last year to 15 per cent by 2003.