Jobs are key in banking deal, says Merkel’s Chief of Staff

Jobs will be the government's priority when it comes to a potential merger between Deutsche Bank AG and Commerzbank AG, says Chancellor Angela Merkel's chief of staff said, adding that Germany doesn't need to have a national banking champion, according to Bild newspaper.

"Of course we're looking at the future of those jobs," Helge Braun, the chancellery minister in Merkel's cabinet, told Bild in an interview. Preserving jobs in the finance industry "is, of course, a very, very relevant point."

Braun, a close ally of Merkel, said Europe's largest economy has no urgent need for a global player. A combination of the two lenders is no "systemic issue for Germany," he said.

"There is no single political motivation to push this merger -- it has to be a corporate one," Braun told Bild.