Deutsche Bank to trim US headcount

AMSTERDAM: Deutsche Bank AG is cutting dozens of employees and consolidating space at its Chicago office as part of a broader plan to shrink United States operations, said sources.

The German lender’s Chicago office — which houses units including front-office trading, operations and treasury — will be reducing headcount, said the sources. Some operations staff are being offered the choice of losing their jobs or relocating to Jacksonville, Florida, said sources.

Operations functions hosted there include those for listed derivatives and supporting trading at the Chicago Mercantile Exchange and Chicago Board of Trade.

Corporate finance and corporate banking teams weren’t impacted by the cuts and will maintain a sizeable presence in the city.

Earlier this year, the investment bank and financial services company announced it would scale back its US operations, as new chief executive officer Christian Sewing attempts to retrench following years of scandals and poor performance.

The bank has considered cutting as many as 20 per cent of its US employees, and is planning to lower its rates sales and trading business in the region. The firm in May told staff it was shutting its Houston office and is moving its New York headquarters from Wall Street to Midtown, slashing its footprint in the city by 30 per cent.

One senior executive said at the time that the firm still views its presence in New York, San Francisco and Chicago as indispensable for its corporate-finance units.