Deutsche Bank in Midst of ‘Hiring Frost’ Heading into H2

Deutsche Bank’s global staffing is poised to receive another series of changes heading into H2 2016, with an outright stagnation in hires afflicting the lender. The latest news of its employment woes come just a few months after the bank announced it would jettison upwards of 35,000 workers over the next few years in one of its most ambitious cost cutting initiatives yet.

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Back in November, Deutsche Bank portended that its shifting operations would see a reduction of its global workforce by 9,000 full-time jobs by 2020. This was already on top of the approximately 6,000 external contractor positions that were also let go.

The nature of all the cuts across the bank’s global operations were done in a stroke to help return Deutsche Bank to profitability, which to date has done little to allay the concerns of shareholders. Since its announcement of massive job cuts back in November, the company’s share prices have plunged over -41% to trade at just $18.00 presently.

Indeed, the moves are reflective not just of an internal quagmire at Deutsche Bank but on the part of the industry as a whole. Other rivals such as Barclays, Standard Chartered, and others have seen similar job cuts, with the entire industry reeling as high paying jobs are being offloaded to other countries to mitigate labor costs – one of the hardest hit regions has been London.

Winter is Coming?

As the calendar crosses into H2, Deutsche Bank has already thrown cold water on its hiring plans for the duration of the year, eyeing a ‘hiring frost’ over the majority of its operations, as reiterated by its Chief Executive John Cryan today. Despite the doomsday talk and the throwing around of figures, Deutsche Bank has largely abstained from actually seeing a large outflow in its headcount.

On the contrary, figures show that its personnel total has actually increased over the past two quarters, though many external consultants have already been relocated. This was especially true in terms of its external technology consultants, which have found new homes in other areas of Deutsche Bank. While the bank has pivoted off of a total hiring freeze, there are clear signs that new appointments are on the decline.

It will be interesting to see the extent of its plans moving forward as H2 2016 unfolds, as officials and market participants will only get a clearer picture when the bank reports its quarterly earnings. For now, Deutsche Bank seems to be more of a example, rather than an exception in a broader industry trend of turbulent times.

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