Deutsche Bank Likely to Cut 10,000 Jobs

Deutsche Bank plans to cut 10,000 jobs, or about a tenth of its global workforce, as part of efforts to reduce costs, a person with knowledge of the matter said.

The German bank`s supervisory board met on Wednesday evening to talk about job cuts and other details of a broad restructuring plan ahead of the company`s annual general meeting.

Deutsche Bank declined to comment. The Wall Street Journal first reported the job cuts on Wednesday, adding that they were likely to extend into 2019.

The loss-making bank said after an abrupt management reshuffle last month that it aimed to scale back its global investment bank and refocus on Europe and its home market after three consecutive years of losses.

Deutsche Bank, Germany`s biggest bank, is expected to announce further details of its reorganisation plans early on Thursday.

Bloomberg News reported the bank was planning to withdraw from a number of equities markets across the globe.

The Bloomberg report, which cited unidentified people, said that Deutsche would sharply scale back its presence in the United States, and had started cutting activities in Central Europe, the Middle East, and Africa.

When it announced last month that it would scale back its investment bank, Deutsche Bank said equities was one of the areas it was looking at for possible cuts.

It has also said that it would cut back U.S. bond trading and the business that services hedge funds.ACHIEVABLE TARGETS

Shareholders, fed up with a languishing share price and dwindling revenues, will call on the bank`s management to speed up the recovery process at the AGM.

Hans-Christoph Hirt, head of shareholder adviser Hermes EOS at Hermes Investment Management, told Reuters on Wednesday he wanted to see a "credible strategy with achievable targets".

Deutsche Bank Chairman Paul Achleitner last month abruptly replaced CEO John Cryan with Christian Sewing amid investor complaints that the bank was falling behind in executing a turnaround plan.

"Critically, the most recent CEO appointment needs to work out," Hirt said.

Deutsche Bank`s shares have fallen nearly 31 percent this year.

The bank is also under pressure from credit ratings agencies. Standard & Poor`s is expected to say by the end of the month whether it will cut Deutsche Bank`s rating after putting it on "credit watch" in April.