The growth spurt that saw Deutsche Bank increase its numbers by 20,000 at the end of 2010 has trailed off. Headcount at the bank has remained relatively flat since the beginning of 2011, according to its second quarter earnings statement.
Deutsche had 101,694 employees at the end of the second quarter of 2011, a decrease of 184. It shrank by 185 employees in the first quarter. This follows expansion in the fourth quarter 2010, when the bank added 19,558 employees as a result of acquiring a majority stake in Postbank, the retail lender, and private wealth manager Sal Oppenheim.
For the first six months of 2011, the firm set aside 7.6 billion euro to pay employees, a 16% increase from the 6.6 billion euro it set aside for the first six months of 2010.
Due to the acquisitions and bump in headcount, more money set aside for compensation didn't translate into more compensation per person. Increased staff meant that compensation and benefits decreased 7.8% per person.
Investment bankers saw a 6% increase in per-person compensation and benefits over the year earlier period. Headcount remained steady, hovering around 15,400.
The big news from Deutsche this week ought to galvanize the investment banking division: Its leader, Anshu Jain, will serve as the bank's co-CEO with Jurgen Fitschen as a successor to current chief executive Josef Ackermann. No doubt i-bankers are hoping Jain will continue to look out for their interests.
On a conference call, chief financial officer Stefan Krause said he couldn't speculate about the dual structure. "It's too early to think about how they'll run the business," he said. "We have 10 months to go until they assume [their positions] so there's plenty of time."
Meanwhile, now that Jain is moving up at the bank, there is a vacancy at the top post in the investment bank. A few candidates come from the 15-member executive committee of the corporate and investment bank that Jain created a year ago, reports Financial News. Some choices include Michele Faissola, head of rates and commodities; Rich Herman, global head of the institutional client group; Alan Cloete, head of global finance and foreign exchange; Colin Fan, head of credit and emerging markets; and Stephan Leithner, co-head of investment banking coverage and advisory.
As for the second quarter earnings, the bank's net profit was 1.20 billion euro ($1.73 billion), compared to 1.16 billion euro a year earlier. Analysts had expected a profit of 1.24 billion euro. The investment bank, which accounts for half of Deutsche's profits, saw revenues increase to 4.9 billion euro from 4.7 billion in the year earlier period.
Write to Julie Steinberg at julies@fins.com