Layoffs Watch '11: Deutsche Bank Has No Idea What You're Talking About

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Updated:: Jan 14, 2019
Original:: Sep 2, 2011

The Germans would like to put it out there that they have no plans to "win market shares" by purging employees, despite reports suggesting otherwise.

Deutsche Bank AG, Germany’s largest bank, doesn’t plan any new cost-cutting programs, said two people familiar with the matter, after the Financial Times Deutschland reported the company is weighing more reductions. The newspaper said the firm may decide to save between 1 billion euros ($1.43 billion) and 2 billion euros a year from 2012, and may make job cuts at the investment bank. No decision has been made about whether and how much the bank would save should the economic situation worsen, the paper said, without citing anyone. Deutsche Bank, based in Frankfurt, wants to win market share and already has savings programs, spokesman Christian Streckert said today. He declined to comment further.

The Germans thought about it and decided yes, layoffs sound like a great idea. Deutsche Bank said it will eliminate 1,900 jobs, including 1,500 at the investment bank, as part of an effort to save 3 billion euros ($3.68 billion). Deutsche Bank, based in Frankfurt, forecast “substantial costs” to achieve the savings without giving a figure in a statement to the stock exchange today. The job reductions are part of a strategy review Anshu Jain and Juergen Fitschen, Deutsche Bank’s new co-chief executive officers, are conducting as the lender grapples with declining revenue from the investment bank, which reported a 63 percent decline in second-quarter earnings today...“The time for vague promises of cultural change in our industry is long gone,” Jain said on a conference call with analysts and reporters. Deutsche Bank’s leaders are “totally determined to act quickly and decisively.” Deutsche Bank To Cut 1,900 Jobs In Bid To Save EU3 Billion [Bloomberg]

The Germans are not yet done firing employees in Asia. Deutsche Bank fired around a third of the staff in its Asia equity derivatives business on Tuesday, as part of a global cost savings plan announced on July 31, according to sources familiar with the matter. Just over 20 people remain in the division, down from a number in the mid 30s, according to one source, as Deutsche Bank and others seek to cut costs in businesses that are failing to generate adequate revenues as the global economy slows. The bank let go five traders, four product structurers and at least one salesperson from the division, the sources said, adding that the numbers were not yet finalised because the discussions were continuing...These cuts follow on the heels of layoffs in June in Deutsche Bank's Asian equities business, which like its counterparts at other firms globally has been struggling this summer due to slack trading volumes and a sharp decline in new share issuance. Deutsche Bank cuts a third of jobs in Asia equity derivs [Reuters]

The Germans are considering sending some bankers to live on a farm upstate, where there's plenty of fresh air and room to run around. Europe’s biggest bank by assets, is considering cutting about 1,000 positions at its investment bank as revenue declines, according to a person with knowledge of the matter. The cuts will be mostly outside Germany, where the firm’s investment banking operations are focused, said the person, who asked not be identified as Deutsche Bank’s plan hasn’t been made public. [Bloomberg]