Frankfurt, Germany: Germany’s biggest lender Deutsche Bank on Thursday announced plans to slash 3,500 jobs as part of a major cost-cutting drive after its net profit fell in 2023.
The group reported a net profit attributable to shareholders of 4.2 billion euros ($4.5 billion), a 16-percent drop on the year before when profits were boosted by a one-off tax benefit.
Costs related to the company’s savings and efficiency programme also weighed on net profit, with Deutsche spending 566 million euros on restructuring and severance expenses.
Revenues, however, jumped six percent year-on-year to 28.9 billion euros thanks to the European Central Bank’s higher interest rates.
Chief executive Christian Sewing praised the bank’s performance in “an uncertain environment” and highlighted that Deutsche had achieved a pre-tax profit of nearly 5.7 billion euros, the highest “in 16 years”.
The group also “maintained our focus on cost discipline”, he said, as Deutsche presses ahead with a 2.5-billion-euro efficiency push aimed at improving profitability.
As part of those efforts, Deutsche said it plans to cut around 3,500 jobs over the next two years, “mainly in non-client-facing areas”.
The bank employed around 85,000 people globally in 2022.
Deutsche also unveiled new targets for 2025, saying it would aim to achieve revenues of 32 billion euros and operate with total costs of around 20 billion euros.
For 2023, the group will propose shareholder dividends of 0.45 euros per share, a 50-percent increase on 2022.