Deutsche Bank layoff scare looms over employees involved in India operations, trimming of staff strength likely

With Deutsche Bank’s layoff underway from Sydney to New York as it began to cut 18,000 jobs globally from Sunday, it is feared that the German bank’s restructuring drive will have an impact on its Indian staff numbers too, media reports said. The bank is expected to axe a few hundred employees in its India operations, said a report in The Times of India. The bank’s staff strength in India is estimated to be about 11,000 and it has a strong technology team in the country, said the report. “It is too early to comment on specific details. We will be communicating directly with our employees regarding their jobs and options available to them,” the report said, quoting Deutsche Bank India spokesperson. [caption id=“attachment_3501947” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] The logo of Deutsche Bank. Reuters.[/caption] As many as eight employees in Deutsche Bank’s equities unit in the country have been reportedly asked to quit amid reports that it is planning to shut down most of its business in the Asia-Pacific region, a report in The Economic Times said. Speculation is rife that the bank is planning to end its India equities business and has asked eight people in the research team to resign, the report said, adding it has also reportedly asked a sales trader to leave. Germany’s largest lender said on Sunday it will scrap its global equities unit and cut some fixed-income operations in a retreat from a long-held ambition to make its struggling investment bank, with 38,000 staff, a force on Wall Street, reported Reuters. Deutsche Bank has almost 91,500 staff around the world.

Deeper cost reduction:
The bank expects to reduce adjusted costs by 6 billion euros to 17 billion euros in 2022. This includes workforce reduction of approximately 18,000 full-time equivalent employees.

— Deutsche Bank (@DeutscheBank) July 7, 2019

The German bank launched the restructuring on Sunday in Europe, outlining a plan that will ultimately cost 7.4 billion euros ($8.31 billion) and see it dramatically scale back its investment bank—a major retreat after years of working to compete as a major force on Wall Street. As part of the overhaul, the bank will scrap its global equities business and also cut some of its fixed-income operations—an area traditionally regarded as one of its strengths. Its investment banking team for the Asia-Pacific region numbered about 300 people before the cuts, and 10 percent to 15 percent will be laid off—almost all in its equity capital markets division, according to a senior Asia banker with direct knowledge of the plans. Some analysts were sceptical that the bank could grow future earnings quickly enough to reach a new target to achieve a return on tangible equity of 8 percent by 2022, compared with a negative return last year. Deutsche Bank said on Sunday that it would not need to raise capital to initiate the cuts, which will result in it making a loss of 2.8 billion euros in the second quarter. It will not pay a dividend either this year or next. Hundreds of employees at the bank’s Wall Street office were summoned to the building’s cafeteria on Monday morning to learn their fates, sources within the bank told Reuters. During one-to-one meetings with management and human resources, they were told they were being laid off and informed of their severance terms, the sources said. In London, where hundreds of job cuts were expected, Chief Executive Officer Christian Sewing said he was “reinventing” the bank, which is expected to post a loss this year. That would put it in the red for four of the past five years after a series of damaging setbacks. Founded in 1870, Deutsche Bank has long been a major source of finance and advice for German companies seeking to expand abroad or raise money through the bond or equity markets. — With Reuters inputs