Deutsche Bank gets go-ahead for 3,000 job cuts; invests €750m in digital projects
Deutsche Bank: people will have to go, digital gets the investment
Deutsche Bank has got the green light from its work council to cut 3,000 full-time jobs. The cuts mainly impact retail and commercial business lines, with separate talks to be held regarding job cuts across other divisions.
This development is part of Deutsche Bank’s major initiative to turn its fortunes around, announced last autumn. 9,000 jobs – or about 9% of the bank’s global workforce – are set to go, nearly half of them in Germany.
Deutsche Bank has 101,445 people on its payroll (according to March 2016 figures) – around 46,000 of these are in Germany.
A quarter of the branches will have to go too, so the bank can focus on 535 “larger and more efficient” ones.
A big focus is now on digital channels, with €750 million allocated for online and mobile banking initiatives through to 2020.
Also, the bank’s management has decided to scrap dividends and the sale of assets is ongoing as part of the programme.
Operations in ten countries are to be closed, including Mexico, Norway and New Zealand.
The project to launch a digital bank in the US has been scrapped.
And the number of investment bank clients is being reduced.
In a letter to employees, Deutsche Bank CEO John Cryan says: “We have made a big step forward in rebuilding our bank. Making these decisions wasn’t easy for us. But we need to lower costs – or else Deutsche Bank won’t be able to work in a sustainably profitable manner in a world with extremely low rates and increasingly stricter regulation.”
A tiny glimpse of hope for staff might come in 2017, when Deutsche Bank opens seven customer centres – a new type of branch – which will employ 360 people in total.
