In April, German banking giant Deutsche Bank held merger talks with domestic rival Commerzbank but the deal fell through in the end.
The following month, Deutsche Bank held an annual general meeting, where CEO Christian Sewing announced that he is working on “tough” cutbacks.
As part of the company’s restructuring plans, Deutsche Bank may slash as many as 20,000 jobs — this makes up more than a fifth of its headcount.
This restructuring is expected to affect its investment banking division the most, particularly its United States operations as well as trading equities and interest rate derivatives, according to people who are familiar with this private matter.
The bank is also planning to cut its global equities by half, they added.
Regardless, no final decisions have been made as of yet and the numbers are subject to change.
The bank expects to make a formal announcement by July 8, said another anonymous source.
Fire And Hire?
Deutsche Bank is allegedly making changes to its management board, with investment banking head Garth Ritchie, Chief Regulatory Officer Sylvie Matherat and Chief Financial Officer James von Moltke all potentially leaving.
With their alleged departure, Sewing is likely to take over formal oversight of the investment bank at the management board level.
Sewing assumed the role of CEO over a year ago, and his previous restructuring plan has failed to restore the bank to a healthy level of profitability.
Deutsche Bank had 91,500 staff at the end of the first quarter, down from 95,400 when Sewing took over.
“Deutsche Bank is working on measures to accelerate its transformation so as to improve its sustainability profitability. We will update all stakeholders if and when required,” a spokesman said by e-mail.
Despite its pending firing spree, Reuters reported on Sunday that Deutsche Bank is looking to hire 300 people globally for its wealth management arm by 2021.
It plans to hire managers across Europe, America and emerging markets, according to the report.
Deutsche Bank is also planning to set up a unit for assets such as long-dated interest rate derivatives it wants to wind down or sell in an effort to cut unprofitable business and free up capital for other business lines.
The unit could hold as much as 50 billion euros (S$77 million) in risk-weighted assets, said people with knowledge on the matter. It had 347 billion euros of RWAs at the end of the first quarter.
Featured Image Credit: Human Resources Online
