By Valentina Za

MILAN (Reuters) - UniCredit plans to invest significantly in the retraining of 600 staff who will then be largely moved to the Italian bank's branch network as CEO Andrea Orcel slims down central offices and powers the sales force, two sources said on Friday.

Italy's second-biggest bank started talks with unions on Sept. 6 over 1,000 voluntary early retirements and the reskilling of 600 staff. The moves come after Orcel said it was time to lighten the central offices after earlier cuts hit the network.

Speaking anonymously because the matter is confidential, the two sources said the goal is to reach an agreement before the end of October.

UniCredit this month unveiled a potential 21% stake in Germany's Commerzbank and said it would be willing to discuss a full takeover.

A downsized corporate centre could be an advantage if UniCredit sought to overcome German opposition to a deal by offering concessions such as keeping Commerzbank's German listing and safeguarding its Frankfurt roots.

Three people familiar with earlier UniCredit attempts to buy Commerzbank said the option of twin headquarters in Germany and Italy had been explored.

Italy's government is supportive of UniCredit's expansion strategy only as long as the Milanese bank keeps its central functions in Italy, sources close to the matter told Reuters previously.

One of the two sources on Friday put the average cost of the early retirement package under the terms UniCredit is proposing at around 270,000 euros.

Italian banks normally replace half of the older staff exiting early with young hires. UniCredit will only hire new branch staff, the other person said.

That is consistent with strategy under Orcel, who since arriving in 2021 has pushed UniCredit to earn more from the sale of financial products, while axing executive roles.

Virtually all of 3,000 people hired by UniCredit in Italy since 2022 have been employed in the branch network.

The reskilling would require a significant investment to cover both the cost of the actual learning but also labour costs for staff who will be training full time for several months, one of the sources said.

($1 = 0.8963 euros)

(Reporting by Valentina Za, editing by Gianluca Semeraro, Kirsten Donovan)