Back in October, we learned that Deutsche Bank (NYSE: DB) would be delaying official bonus communication until March, presumably in order to 1) get a bunchof layoffs in before making payout and 2) put off letting people whose jobs were spared just how bad their bonuses were going to be (i.e. really bad or nonexistent). And while some Chief Executive Officers, faced with an angry mob of employees, attempt to soften the blow of reduced compensation by blaming market factors and/or promising next year will be better with regard to pay, Deutsche CEO John Cryan has taken the James Gorman approach. Which is to say, telling his staff to STFU or GTFO, because he's pretty sure they're all overpaid in the first place.

Deutsche Bank AG co-Chief Executive Officer John Cryan, almost five months into his revamp of the firm, said bankers still earn too much money and shouldn’t be paid like entrepreneurs. “I think people in banking are paid too much,” Cryan said at a conference in Frankfurt on Monday. “Many people in the sector still believe they should be paid entrepreneurial wages for turning up to work with a regular salary, a pension and probably a health-care scheme and playing with other people’s money. There doesn’t seem to be anything entrepreneurial about that except the compensation structures.” [...] “This is the pinnacle definition of a warning shot,” said Jason Kennedy, the head of recruitment firm Kennedy Group in London. “With continuous and unforeseen fines, their first priority is to build capital rather than pay their employees. By saying what he’s said, Christmas has been canceled.”

Deutsche Bank Co-CEO Cryan Says Bankers Are Still Paid Too Much [Bloomberg]

Earlier: Bonus Watch ’15: Deutsche Bank Hoping It’s Just A Rumor People Come To Wall Street To Make Money; Deutsche Bank Bonus/Layoffs Watch ’15: The Bonus Is You Get To Keep Your Job

Related: James Gorman To Morgan Stanley Employees: STFU Or GTFO