Deutsche Bank slashes up to 500 investment banking jobs: report

Berlin — Germany’s biggest lender Deutsche Bank is letting hundreds of investment bankers go, Bloomberg News reported Monday, the latest round of deep cuts in a years-long battle for profitability.

“At least 250” and perhaps as many as 500 “senior and mid-level” bankers in London and the US have been shown the door in the past two weeks, Bloomberg said citing people familiar with the decisions.

Deutsche Bank declined to comment on the report when contacted by AFP.

In early February, executives acknowledged that 2017 had been on of the investment bank’s worst years yet, with revenues sapped by low volatility on financial markets and limited client activity.

Revenues at the division fell 16 percent to 14.2 billion euros ($17.6 billion) last year, leaving Deutsche lagging behind competitors in the US and Europe like Santander or BNP Paribas.

Under chief executive John Cryan, who took the helm in 2015, Deutsche has undergone a painful course of treatment to return to health, reducing exposure to risks and planning to shutter 200 branches in Germany while slashing 9,000 jobs worldwide. —