Germany's largest bank, Deutsche Bank, has been hit by a wave of criticism in its home country after revealing further job cuts last week. Among the dissenters were German politicians, some of whom have urged customers to boycott the institution.
Last week the major financial organization revealed that more job cuts were on the way in 2005 to add to the 1,920 losses announced last year. In total 6,400 positions would be cut by the end of 2005, the bank said.
The job losses are part of Deutsche Bank’s business realignment program, launched in December last year, which covers a series of initiatives aimed at achieving revenue growth and cost efficiency.
Anger towards the job reductions has been fueled by the revelation that the bank’s pre-tax profits for the past year doubled to E4.1 billion. As a result, many politicians, who face seeing the already uncomfortably high unemployment figures in Germany increase, have turned on the financial institution.
Hesse state Social Democratic party head Andrea Ypsilanti has called for Deutsche Bank account holders to boycott the organization and consider switching to a state-owned bank or a co-operative institution. Others, including Green party co-chair Reinhard Butikofer, have issued verbal attacks against Deutsche Bank CEO Josef Ackermann. Butikofer described Ackermann as irresponsible to society.
However others, like Bundesbank board member Edgar Meister, have backed the bank’s decision, claiming that the move was beneficial for the bigger picture as larger revenues and profit margins allow banks to provide credit to the rest of the economy and compete on the international stage.