The private bank has to cut costs because of the crisis in the capital market business.
(Photo: Bloomberg)
Frankfurt The slump in the capital market business is forcing Germany’s oldest independent private bank to make further staff cuts. On Tuesday, 55 Berenberg employees in the London office learned that they had to leave the bank.
David Morlock, one of the personally liable partners of the Hamburg money house, justified the step with the “challenging year”. Activity on the capital markets has fallen to its lowest level in several decades. Morlock expects business to improve again in 2023, “but we have to be realistic about the speed of recovery”.
Since one of Berenberg’s most important business areas – advising companies on going public – has practically come to a standstill, the bank had already hired its employees for a dreary bonus season.
The downsizing this year is a turning point for the more than 430-year-old company, which had recorded record profits in 2021. In August, Berenberg had already cut 30 of the 500 or so jobs in London at the time, and there were also significant staff cuts in the USA.
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In New York, Berenberg cut a total of around 60 jobs this year, reducing its presence on Wall Street by more than 40 percent. After the job cuts in the summer, ten more employees, most of whom worked in support functions, had to leave the US subsidiary Berenberg Capital Markets in the past few days.
The number of employees in the USA has thus fallen from 156 at the end of last year to around 75, although Berenberg announced in February that it would increase the workforce by a further 100.
More: Berenberg Bank is further reducing its US presence