Deutsche Bank Said to Close Dubai Equity Research in Retreat

(Bloomberg) -- Deutsche Bank AG will close its equity research department in Dubai as it restructures the business globally, according to people with knowledge of the matter.

Germany’s biggest lender will cut eight positions as part of the closure, one of the people said, asking not to be identified because the information isn’t public. A spokesman for Deutsche Bank declined to comment.

The lender is cutting a quarter of equities jobs and reducing overall positions by at least 7,000 as Chief Executive Officer Christian Sewing seeks to slash costs and boost profitability. Sewing is refocusing on the bank’s European home market and reversing a two-decade effort to compete head-to-head with the large Wall Street firms that dominate volatile securities trading. Global equities has been one of his first targets.

Deutsche Bank said in 2016 it was adding three analysts to its equity research operations in the Dubai International Financial Centre, taking the size of the team to nine, according to a statement at the time.

Earlier this month, people familiar with the matter said Pascal Moura, who runs equity research for the region from Dubai, was leaving the bank. Among others are London-based head of CEEMEA equity sales Darren Veenhuis, according to the people.

To contact the reporters on this story: Dinesh Nair in London at dnair5@bloomberg.net;Archana Narayanan in Dubai at anarayanan16@bloomberg.net;Matthew Martin in Dubai at mmartin128@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Stefania Bianchi at sbianchi10@bloomberg.net, Claudia Maedler

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