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EMPTY DESKS AND EARLY BEERS: LIFE AT DEUTSCHE BANK IN NEW YORK
By Sonali Basak, Steven Arons, and Jake Rudnitsky
July 1, 2019, 11:20 AM EDT

-Equities staff told leaders for years they should make cuts
-U.S. executives grew discontent after a year of limited info

Inside 60 Wall Street, the American headquarters of Deutsche Bank AG, the signs of trouble are everywhere.

Begin on the 46th floor, overlooking the East River: brown boxes have been stacked in the offices of the senior-most executive in the Americas. More than 40 flights down, on the trading floor, seats sit empty at mid-morning. Computer screens are black. Some who remain are openly hunting for jobs at rival banks. Their bosses know, and don’t mind.

On a recent weekday, an executive spied junior traders enjoying beers at the nearby Full Shilling pub. It was just past 1 p.m. Older traders could be found at Cipriani on Wall Street, where the famous bellini cocktails are served in wood-paneled rooms or on a terrace between stone ionic columns.

So it goes nowadays at Deutsche Bank in New York, where everybody, from the executives down, seems to sense that more bad news is coming from Frankfurt.

The Wall Street operation was once a symbol of the German bank’s vaulting ambition to go head-to-head with American finance in its own backyard. In recent years, the business has been a source of regulatory and political headaches while losing ground and talent to rivals.

Deutsche Bank now plans to tell hundreds of U.S. equities and rates traders that they will no longer be employed there, people familiar with the matter told Bloomberg. Chief Executive Officer Christian Sewing may present a major restructuring plan as early as this week, slashing as many as 20,000 positions worldwide.
-bloomberg.com
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-07-01/empty-desks-and-early-beers-life-at-deutsche-bank-in-new-york