Deutsche Bank Is Said to Weigh Cutting U.S. Staff About 20%
Deutsche Bank is considering restructuring in the U.S. resulting in the firm cutting 20% of staff in the region.
(Bloomberg) -- Deutsche Bank AG is considering a sweeping restructuring in the U.S. 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 U.S. -- 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 isn’t targeting a specific level of cuts at the U.S. unit and the final figure will depend on each business line’s decisions, according to another person briefed on the matter. The U.S. makes up about a tenth of its global workforce.
Separately, the bank announced Tuesday that Barry Bausano, a longtime senior executive overseeing relations with hedge fund clients, is leaving the U.S. unit. He’ll step down as chairman of the business with hedge funds and as CEO of Deutsche Bank Securities, the company’s U.S. broker-dealer, according to a memo sent to staff on Tuesday.
Bausano, 54, has helped lead efforts to retain big trading clients in recent years, after some grew concerned about the bank’s strength as a counterparty.
To contact the reporters on this story: Steven Arons in Frankfurt at sarons@bloomberg.net, Sonali Basak in New York at sbasak7@bloomberg.net.
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Michael J. Moore at mmoore55@bloomberg.net, Dale Crofts at dcrofts@bloomberg.net, Dan Reichl
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