Deutsche Bank Is Making Deep Cuts to 2018 Bonuses

(Bloomberg) -- Deutsche Bank AG employees learned what bonuses they would receive on Wednesday, with many facing deep cuts and some bankers in New York and London receiving zero payouts, people with knowledge of the decisions said.

Many of those who avoided large cuts to their 2018 rewards did so because they had guaranteed payouts, such as recent hires, the people said, asking not to be identified because they weren't authorized to speak on the matter. Some top performers received raises, according to one of the people.

Deutsche Bank cut the bonus pool for 2018 to less than 2 billion euros ($2.3 billion), between 10 percent and 15 percent lower than in 2017, one of the people said. The bank is making more selective payouts in an attempt to keep top earners, Bloomberg reported in January. The bank will disclose the final size of its bonus pool on March 22 when it publishes its annual report.

The embattled lender has faced numerous scandals in recent years, including a dramatic raid at its Frankfurt headquarters in November as German authorities looked for evidence of money laundering.

Deutsche Bank's equities trading unit lost about $750 million last year and the bank has considered closing its entire equities operation, people familiar with the matter have said. Revenue at the investment bank, which accounts for the lion's share of the bank's bonuses, dropped 5 percent in the fourth quarter and and its profit plunged 48 percent in the year.

Two managing directors in New York announced plans to leave the bank in recent weeks, including co-head of equity sales Craig Bench, people familiar with the matter have said.

To contact the reporters on this story: Jake Rudnitsky in Moscow at jrudnitsky@bloomberg.net;Steven Arons in Frankfurt at sarons@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Dale Crofts at dcrofts@bloomberg.net, ;Torrey Clark at tclark8@bloomberg.net, Ross Larsen, Vernon Wessels