Deutsche Bank May Move Half of New York Staff Elsewhere

Deutsche Bank AG may move as much as half of its 4,600 Manhattan staff to smaller hubs across the U.S. in the next five years, the head of its Americas business told the Financial Times.

The German lender could “conceivably” cut its New York headcount by half in that time period, depending on the evolution of “smaller hubs and pockets,” Americas Chief Executive Officer Christiana Riley said in an interview with the newspaper published Sunday.

Riley expects banks to concentrate their workforces in different low-cost areas of the U.S., instead of copying the model of some technology companies, which allow their staff to essentially work from anywhere they like.

“I’m optimistic that New York remains, to a degree, a hub,” Riley told the FT. “You will continue to have significant amounts of institutional capital sitting in and around New York ... But that isn’t maybe going to be relevant for all of those people,” she added.

Banks and other companies are thinking about how to re-balance their office locations and the amount of on-site work for the period after the coronavirus pandemic, which has prompted an unprecedented number of people to work from home.

Deutsche Bank this week said that it expects to lower its 2022 adjusted costs by 300 million euros ($363 million) more than previously announced, partly thanks to the impact of the pandemic on work habits.

The lender said in September that workers in New York could continue working from home until the middle of next year. The Frankfurt-based company plans to leave its offices at 60 Wall St. for new headquarters at Manhattan’s Columbus Circle next year.