Deutsche Bank mulls US cuts hitting 20% of staff

Bloomberg

Deutsche Bank AG is considering a sweeping restructuring in the US that could result in the firm cutting about 20 percent of staff in the region, according to people briefed on the matter.
The bank is nearing a decision and the final reductions may end up lower, one of the people said, asking not to be identified because the details are confidential. Bloomberg reported in April a plan to slash more than 10 percent of jobs in the US — where its workforce was 10,300 at the end of 2017 — as the German lender retreats from businesses it deems less competitive.
“There are no such plans,” said Joerg Eigendorf, a spokesman for the firm in Frankfurt. Deutsche Bank, led by Chief Executive Officer Christian Sewing, is considering cuts to businesses including prime brokerage, rates and repo, according to a bank statement last month and people familiar with the matter. The firm is already planning to close an office in Houston and shrink its presence in New York City, moving from Wall Street to a midtown Manhattan space that’s 30 percent smaller.
Deutsche Bank shares were little changed at 11.45 euros as of 9:02 a.m. in Frankfurt. They’ve declined about 28 percent this year, making the lender the second-worst performing stock on the Bloomberg Europe 500 Banks and Financial Services Index.
Deutsche Bank isn’t targeting a specific level of cuts at the US unit and the final figure will depend on each business line’s decisions, according to another person briefed on the matter. The US makes up about a tenth of its global workforce.
The US business is already seeing some senior defections. The bank said in memos that Barry Bausano, a longtime senior executive overseeing relations with hedge fund clients, and Jonathan Richman, head of trade and financial supply chain for the Americas, are leaving.
Bausano will step down as chairman of the business with hedge funds and as CEO of Deutsche Bank Securities, the company’s US broker-dealer. The 54-year-old has helped lead efforts to retain big trading clients in recent years, after some grew concerned about the bank’s strength as a counterparty.
Richman, who has spent 10 years at the firm, is pursuing another opportunity and will be replaced by Juan Martin and Giovanni Saladino. The trade business is part of the bank’s global transaction banking unit, which produced 15 percent of its revenue last year.