Deutsche Bank has started cutting at least 250 jobs globally at its corporate and investment bank - and the number could rise to over 500. The cuts include senior and mid-level investment banking positions in London and the U.S. Deutsche Bank’s corporate and investment bank employed 17,251 front office full-time staff at the end of last year.

The news is somewhat of a surprise given that the bank announced in late January that it would hike annual bonus payments for 2017 to more than $1.2 billion – despite posting its 3^rd consecutive annual loss.  [Reuters, 1/27/18] 

That said, the decision to eliminate jobs comes as Deutsche Bank struggles to keep pace with other Wall Street firms. CEO John Cryan has had the unenviable task of trying to motivate and retain top investment banking staff while keeping a lid on costs following 3 straight years of losses. Many of the unit’s problems are in its trading business, with fixed-income revenue dropping 29% and equities declining 25% in Q4 of 2017. The bank ranked 9^th in M&A advisory work for 2017, up one notch from 2016.