Will 2018 be the year of big bank layoffs?
Many bank employees lost their jobs during and in the aftermath of financial crisis. While the economy, and jobs, have roared back since the Great Recession, one big international bank could soon announce a massive layoff.
Deutsche Bank announced on Thursday that it will reduce its headcount to 90,000 from 97,000 to accelerate cost-cutting.
The bank releasing the news ahead of Thursday's annual general meeting.
While the overall banking sector has been performing well – with the major U.S. banks reporting record-setting earnings – Deutsche Bank hasn’t been doing very well. The German bank’s shares are down by about one-third this year and are at their lowest price since 2016.
Deutsche Bank CEO John Cryan was ousted in April, and now under the leadership of Christian Sewing, and according to reports, some big changes are being considered to cut costs.
The latest quarterly results from the major U.S. banks, including JPMorgan Chase and Bank of America, provided evidence that tax reform, a solid economy and increasing interest rates are good for business.
Overseas, things are not as good. According to the Financial Times, European banks lost more ground on their U.S. rivals in the first quarter with the likes of HSBC, Société Générale and BNP Paribas reporting disappointing trading performances in their investment banking divisions.
BNP’s chief financial officer Lars Machenil noted that the bank’s equity performance in the quarter was stronger in the U.S. compared to Europe.
It wasn’t clear from the Journal’s report where in the world most of the potential Deutsche Bank layoffs will occur.
There were some pretty significant job losses in the U.S. banking sector in the final quarter of 2017. The six largest banks in the U.S. gave about 8,000 employees their pink slips during the quarter, the biggest decrease in the banks’ combined workforce in two years, according to Bloomberg. Most job losses came from Citigroup and Wells Fargo.