Deutsche Bank in plans to shed 8 000 jobs worldwide
DEUTSCHE Bank is considering cutting as many as 8 000 jobs in addition to selling a consumer-banking unit, which would shrink the total workforce almost 25 percent, according to a person familiar with the matter.
The new cuts would probably mostly affect administrative and technology jobs, although some client-facing positions might be eliminated, said the person, who asked to remain anonymous because the plans were confidential. A plan to divest Bonn-based Deutsche Postbank, which employs about 15 000, was still part of the strategy, the person said. A final decision would be made next month, the person said.
Deutsche Bank, which runs Europe’s biggest investment bank, employed 98 647 people at the end of June. Klaus Winker, a company spokesman, declined to comment on Monday.
Co-chief executive John Cryan, 54, who replaced Anshu Jain in July, is pressing ahead with the bank’s plan to bolster profitability by reducing expenses and cutting back businesses.
‘Swollen’ cost base
On his first day in the job, he pledged to sell the Postbank unit, as outlined in April, and tackle the company’s “swollen” cost base and “antiquated and inadequate” technology.
Deutsche Bank’s staff levels at the end of June are up 0.4 percent from the end of 2013, according to the company’s filings.
Cryan aims to complete the bank’s plans by the end of next month. When taking over as co-chief executive with Juergen Fitschen, he inherited a strategy to boost returns by lowering expenses by about 15 percent by 2020 and shrinking assets at the investment bank by as much as 17 percent by 2018.
While that plan foresaw the bank closing as many as 200 consumer banking branches and exiting up to 10 countries, the company stopped short of saying how many jobs would be lost and where.
Deutsche Bank would probably close most or all of its investment bank’s operations in Russia, said the person. The bank has said it plans to divest Postbank by the end of next year. – Bloomberg ECONOMICoutput in Sierra Leone will probably contract 22 percent this year as its mining and agricultural industries face the dual pressures of recovering from an Ebola outbreak and a commodity-price slump. The outbreak of the illness has killed more than 11 000 people in Sierra Leone, Guinea and Liberia, since December 2013. The three West African governments estimate $8 billion (R108.34bn) would be needed to rebuild their economies after that epidemic curbed business productivity and delayed investment while farmers fled their fields and mining companies shuttered projects. – Bloomberg