Deutsche Bank to cut 35,000 jobs, close operations in 10 countries

On Thursday Deutsche Bank announced it would reduce its workforce by some 9,000 full-time jobs by 2020 and exit 10 countries.

About 6,000 external contractor positions will also be reduced by 2020. Moreover, the bank is planning to get rid of assets with a total cost base of around 4 billion euros and 20,000 jobs over the next 24 months.

The bank will close operations in Malta, Denmark, Finland, Norway, Argentina, Chile, Mexico, Uruguay, Peru and New Zealand. It also plans to dispose of its Postbank retail bank. New head John Cryan said at a press conference that Germany was still the bank's most important market.

The lender also wants to decrease twice the amount of clients it has in its global markets and investment banking business.

In the much anticipated strategy update, the bank said it wanted to concentrate upon the markets, products, and clients where it was positioned to succeed, as it wants to exit high risk locations.

Modernizing its outdated and fragmented technology is another plan. The plan also aims to see the lender becoming better capitalized, "so that we are no longer playing catch-up with regulation and market expectations".

The bank earlier reported a net loss of 6 billion euros ($6.56 billion), slightly below what it had previously warned amid lingering litigation and impairment charges, as new chief executive John Cryan tries to reverse it. The group had expected an after-taxes loss of 6.2 billion euros for the third quarter due to writedowns at its investment banking unit and its Postbank retail bank.

Its profit and revenue were impacted by a series of charges totaling 7.6 billion euros, the lender said earlier. Its litigation reserves rose by 1 billion euros to 4.8 billion euros.

The earnings come after Deutsche Bank said it would scrap its 2015 and 2016 dividend to drive the bank's performance higher and face a number of regulatory challenges. Deutsche Bank said it desired to resume dividends after this period "at a competitive payout ratio".

Q3 revenues came in at 7.3 billion euros, 7% lower year-on-year, as they were hurt by a 649 million euro impairment on the bank's stake 19.99 percent stake in Hua Xia Bank. But revenues at its corporate banking and securities division reached 3.2 billion euros, rising a 2%year-on-year, somehow soothing the hit. This was helped by a 20% jump in debt sales and trading revenues.