"There could be Lehman Brothers scenes outside Deutsche Bank on Monday"

Now that Garth Ritchie has gone from Deutsche Bank, Christian Sewing's plan to make 15,000 to 20,000 job cuts across the bank looks increasingly like a done deal. On Sunday, the board seems likely to rubber-stamp the proposed reorganisation, which would see up to 50% of jobs in the corporate and investment bank disappear. On Monday, it will all begin.

"You could see Lehman-style scenes outside Deutsche Bank on Monday," says one recently ex-managing director from the German bank, referring to the staff who streamed out of Lehman with their posessions in boxes in 2008. "It's very sad what's happening."

As we reported earlier this week, there are rumours that DB has blocked-out London meeting rooms on Monday - an indication that the banks' HR team plans successive meetings with staff who are to be let go. This is despite some suggestions that the cuts will be spread over an entire year. 

In his farewell email, seen by eFinancialCareers, Ritchie said Deutsche's CIB had been, "home for almost half my life and nearly all my work working career.

"I have thoroughly enjoyed my time here. even the challenging moments," said Ritchie, adding that he has a lot of friends at the bank.

Ritchie, who earned €8.2m last year, was tasked with 'refocusing' the corporate and investment bank in 2018 but 'only' achieved 80% of last year's targets. His exit will pave the way for much more aggressive restructuring under Christian Sewing - who despite being a retail banker by background is now going to manage the investment bank himself.

In his valedictory letter, Ritchie said the bank is entering "a new phase," and that he has "every confidence in Christian" and the "iconic brand" that is Deutsche Bank.

Deutsche declined to comment on the potential scale of the bank's layoffs.

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