Massive lay-offs! Deutsche Bank plans to slash over 10,000 jobs worldwide

Over a month after he was appointed the CEO of Deutsche Bank AG, Christian Sewing, who had earlier warned his staff members of tough decisions ahead, has said Germany's biggest lender plans to lay-off around 10,000 employees worldwide as part of its cost-cutting measures to boost the company's revenues.

The company's restructuring plan reflects Sewing's 'revamp strategy' to reduce the European financial service major's workforce by 10 per cent to around 90,000 from the current strength of 97,000. The company has been battling with shrinking revenues from its investment banking division, which generates over 50 per cent of Deutsche Bank's total revenue. Other areas of concern for the German bank are increasing costs and stiff competition from the Wall Street companies.

Christian Sewing is accelerating a push to refocus the lender on its European home market and reverse a two-decade effort to compete head-to-head with the large Wall Street firms that dominate volatile securities trading, a report published in Bloomberg said.

Sewing's latest decision comes more than a month after his initial review of the bank in April when he was appointed as the CEO. In his letter to the staff, Sewing had hinted he could initiate tough measures to curtail losses dues to the investment banking division. "The time pressure is on and the expectations are high from all sides. We'll have to further adapt our revenue, cost, and capital structure," he had said, reported Reuters. Sewing is the third CEO of the bank in the past six years.

The Deutsche Bank's decision to carry out massive job cuts also comes after it conducted a global review of the company, called Project Colombo, which is aimed at boosting profitability.

The company's US investment banking wing has suffered losses because of a tough competition from leading US companies. The ripples of the company's restructuring plan are already being felt across the US where it has decided to shut Houston investment banking division and has said it would move from its New York premises to a smaller area.

Apart from the US, Deutsche Bank is also planning to reduce its presence from equities markets across Central Europe, Middle East and Africa. Soon after Sewing's initial warning, several senior executives have also left the company for greener pastures. Meanwhile, Deutsche Bank stock fell .6 per cent to 10.9 euros in Frankfurt on Thursday.