Deutsche Bank shares increase the pre-market as 18,000 global work reductions begin

SYDNEY / HONG KONG (Reuters) – Deutsche Bank ( DBKGn.DE ) shares rose in pre-trading on Monday when the German lender eliminated the entire teams in its Asian business, began to increase 18,000 jobs globally in one of the largest audits in an investment bank since the purchase of the financial crisis.

Lender announced the job losses on Sunday as part of a restructuring plan that eventually will cost $ 7.4 billion ($ 8.3 billion) and see the dismissive year of work to make the investment bank a great force on Wall Street.

As part of the audit, the Bank will scrape its global equity business and cut some operations into its fixed income – an area traditionally considered one of its strengths.

Shares in Deutsche Bank were indicated to open 5.2% higher at 0548 GMT, according to pre-market data from the brokerage firm Lang & Schwarz.

Deutsche Bank did not provide any geographical breakdown for job losses, although the masses are expected to fall largely in Europe and the United States. However, the global day on Monday began with cuts in Sydney, Hong Kong and elsewhere in the Asia-Pacific.

Bankers looking to leave Deutsche Bank's office in Sydney on Monday said they had been put off, but refused to be identified as they were to return later to sign redundancy packages.

A person with knowledge of the bank's operations in Australia also said its four strong equity fund markets (ECM) teams were also dissolved. The person also said that most of the mergers and acquisitions (M&A) were not immediately affected.

The entire team in sales and trade also loses their jobs, according to several German banks.

Regionally, Deutsche was accustomed to regularly rank among the top 10 banks in league tables for ECM deals, but it has been in recent years, beating 17th last year and 18 in 2019, Refinitive data showed. So far this year, the 8th regional for M & As.

Deutsche had around 4,700 employees at its headquarters in Sydney, Tokyo, Hong Kong and Singapore, showing fact sheets on its website.

The investment bank for the Asia-Pacific region numbered about 300 people before the cuts, of which 10% to 15% will be deployed, almost all in the equity market division, according to a senior Asia banks with direct knowledge of the plans.

A Hong Kong-based stock trader who had been laid off said the mood was "quite gloomy" as people were called individually to meetings.

"(There is one) couple of rounds of chats with HR, and then they give you this package and you are out of the building, says the merchant.

Several workers were seen and left the office with large envelopes with the bank's logo Three employees took a picture of themselves next to a large Deutsche Bank logo outside and cut each other before greeting a taxi.

"If you have a job for me, please let me know. But do not ask questions, "said a person who confirmed that he was employed by Deutsche Bank, but refused to comment further.

A Deutsche Bank spokesman refused to comment on specific departures and said the bank would communicate directly with employees. [19659004] "We understand that these changes are deeply affecting people's lives, and we will do everything we can to be as responsible and sensitive as possible to implement these changes," she said.

RESTART

CEO Christian Sewing, which now aims to focus on the bank's more stable income streams, Sunday said it was the most fundamental transformation of the bank for decades. "This is a reboot," he said.

"We create a bank that will be more profitable, slimmer, more innovative and more resilient, "he wrote to the staff.

The bank will set up a so-called bad bank to liquidate unwanted assets, with a value of 74 billion euros of risk-weighted assets. [19659004] Sying now represents the investment bank on the board in a shift that illustrates the division's declining influence.

The CEO had flagged extensive restructuring in May when he promised shareholders "tough cuts" to the investment bank. This followed Deutsche's lack of consent to a merger with competitor Commerzbank AG ( CBKG.DE ).

Monday Werner Steinmueller, the bank's Asia-Pacific Chief Executive, told employees in a note, seen by Reuters, that the bank focused on its core strengths.

"The new investment The bank will be less , but more resistant, focusing on financing, capital markets, consulting and sales and trading activities, he says in the note.

A senior Deutsche Banker, who still had his job, stressed that the bank did not give up on agreements it was working for, but asked how well the scaled-down franchise could compete in the future.

"Our ECM business needs to be scaled back, but it's not going to happen in one day," he said. "The biggest question for us is where we go from here if we do not offer the whole package of products. Will clients stick to us or are the game over? "