CIBC latest Canadian lender to cut jobs, seeks to boost efficiency

TORONTO (Reuters) - Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (Toronto:CM.TO - News) is trimming its workforce as part of a realignment of its resources to help boost efficiency, the country's fifth-biggest lender said on Thursday.

It did not mention the number of job losses nor the departments affected in an emailed statement. A source familiar with the matter said the cuts would roughly total 500.

"After careful review, we have made the difficult decision to selectively reduce a number of positions across CIBC," the bank said in the statement.

The move makes it the latest Canadian bank to trim back after Bank of Nova Scotia (Toronto:BNS.TO - News) and Royal Bank of Canada (Toronto:RY.TO - News) cut positions late last year.

The job losses were initially reported by the Wall Street Journal on Thursday.

CIBC, which has approximately 44,500 full- and part-time staff, said it would be a net recruiter in 2015 with plans to add 5,000 employees in the next year, it said.

(Reporting by Euan Rocha; Editing by Alan Crosby)