Deutsche Bank starts 6,000 jobs cull

Deutsche Bank is understood to have started laying off hundreds of investment bankers in London and New York as part of a global redundancy programme.

A report in the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung said that "between 4,000 and 6,000 staff will lose their jobs in global investment banking", spread evenly between London, Frankfurt and New York.

Deutsche is now culling jobs from its London corporate finance and advisory business.

Job cuts had initially been expected to centre on back-office staff.

A spokesman for Deutsche Bank in London declined to confirm the number of job losses or comment on the German paper's report.

Jürgen Fitschen, the new head of Deutsche Bank in Germany, has made it clear that he wants to make Frankfurt centre stage for Deutsche Bank.

Martin Peter, senior financial analyst at Independent Research in Frankfurt, said the market has been expecting a further substantial round of job cuts at Deutsche Bank with redundancies most likely in investment banking and asset management.

Peter said Deutsche Bank is likely to take a further €600m restructuring charge for the first quarter of 2005, on top of the €600m charge for the fourth quarter of last year announced last week.

He said: "...the problem is not on the cost side or risk provision but earnings [growth] is the crucial point for Deutsche Bank."

He expects Deutsche Bank's management to provide further guidance on the number and location of job cuts when the bank announces fourth quarter results on February 3.

The redundancy programme is part of plans by chief executive Josef Ackermann to cut costs to bring the bank in line with competitors by delivering 25% return on equity.