Deutsche Bank's end of year trading cull

Deutsche Bank may be making some unexpected end of year hires. But it's also making some entirely predictable end of year layoffs.

Headhunters in London say Deutsche has got rid of around six traders as part of its pullback from single name credit default swap (CDS) trading. The exits are understood to include Joshua Farber, a credit index trader who joined from Barclays in 2005, and Melvyn Merran, a trader who joined from UBS in 2012. Salespeople are also said to have been let go in the cull, although some staff have been shifted onto high yield desks.

Deutsche declined to comment on the redundancies. They follow reports last week that the German bank put three people at risk in its London-based insurance solutions business and five people at risk in its physical precious metals trading operation.

As we noted earlier, Deutsche has also been hiring. Yesterday it announced the appointment of Kemal Askar as head of European rates trading.

Askar is joining Deutsche from JPMorgan. The lateness of the season might suggest Askar received a generous guaranteed bonus for the move - except that the FCA Register suggests he left JPMorgan in September and Financial News points out Askar was overlooked for promotion when JPM announced its new management line up in May. Deutsche may therefore have scooped him for a salary alone.