Deutsche Bank Clears Labor Hurdle for 1,000 German Job Cuts

(Bloomberg) -- Deutsche Bank AG reached an agreement with labor representatives to eliminate 1,000 jobs, as part of Chief Executive Officer John Cryan’s efforts to cut 4,000 positions in the lender’s home market.

The cuts will be spread across human resources, asset management, global markets, corporate finance and research, Germany’s biggest lender said in a statement Thursday. The reductions, which are part of a wider restructuring plan to eliminate 9,000 positions globally, will be carried out over the next months, according to a spokesman.

“We are fully aware that today’s decision is a difficult change with significant personal impact for many employees,” Karl von Rohr, a member of Deutsche Bank’s management board with responsibility for labour relations in Germany, said in a statement. “We will ensure that any staff reductions are carried out in a socially responsible manner.”

Deutsche Bank has struggled to reverse a slide in shares that eroded almost half of the company’s market value this year, compounded by investor concerns that the lender will have to raise capital to meet mounting legal costs. The U.S. Department of Justice last month requested $14 billion to settle a probe into the sale of residential mortgage-backed securities, more than twice what the lender has set aside for litigation.

Cryan and other top German executives are scheduled to travel to Washington this week as business leaders and central bankers gather for International Monetary Fund and World Bank meetings, according to people familiar with the matter. The managers may also use the trip to continue negotiations with the Justice Department to settle the investigation, they said.

To contact the reporters on this story: Keith Campbell in London at k.campbell@bloomberg.net, Jan-Henrik Förster in Zurich at jforster20@bloomberg.net. To contact the editors responsible for this story: Simone Meier at smeier@bloomberg.net, Michael J. Moore at mmoore55@bloomberg.net, Neil Callanan