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Deutsche Bank Defends Job-Cutting Plans

February 10, 2005
https://p.dw.com/p/6E4c

Deutsche Bank, Germany's biggest bank, defended Thursday its controversial plans to slash thousands of jobs at a time when unemployment in the euro zone's biggest economy is at a postwar high. "The move is necessary, but we have pledged to implement it in a way that is fair and socially acceptable to the employees concerned," chairman Josef Ackermann wrote in a letter to employees. Last week, Deutsche Bank said it was planning to axe or relocate some 6,400 jobs in all, equivalent to 10 percent of its workforce, even though it ran up a net profit of around €2.5 billion ($3.2 billion) in 2004, the highest in four years. The aim of the additional blood-letting was to catapult Deutsche Bank into one of the biggest banks in the world in terms of market capitalization from its current ranking of No. 23. Ackermann insisted that the decision had not been an easy one. "But in order to be successful in a highly competitive global market, we have to cut our costs," he wrote. Only 1,920 jobs would be cut in Germany, Ackermann said.