BERLIN, Jan 23 (Reuters) - Commerzbank Chief Executive Manfred Knof on Tuesday played down prospects of a possible merger with larger rival Deutsche Bank, saying such a tie-up was not under discussion at his bank and he was striving to keep the bank independent.

The comments come amid heightened speculation that merger talks with Deutsche - which failed in 2019 - could once again come to the fore.

"So I think this is always a topic more for journalists and the media - but not for us," he told Reuters when asked about a possible tie-up with Deutsche on the sidelines of a conference organized by Die Welt. (Reporting by Klaus Lauer, Writing by Tom Sims, Editing by Victoria Waldersee and Tomasz Janowski)