Deutsche Bank cutting dozens of jobs in fixed-income trading

[NEW YORK] Deutsche Bank is cutting dozens of traders and salespeople in its global fixed-income ranks, a unit that was largely spared from the first round of reductions in the firm's overhaul two months ago.

The bank has cut traders in high yield, distressed and investment-grade debt teams in New York and abroad, according to people familiar with the matter, who asked not to be identified discussing personnel matters. The reductions are largely tied to underperformance of some divisions, such as the credit business in Latin America, which is being eliminated entirely, one of the people said.

Deutsche Bank is undergoing a restructuring that will involve 18,000 job reductions across all of its businesses as chief executive officer Christian Sewing tries to turn around years of poor profitability. When executives laid out the plan in July, they slashed the equities-trading division but stayed committed to most of the fixed-income unit, under the strategy of focusing on businesses where the bank is a leader.

Still, the bank has shown it is willing to adjust its plans if needed. In late July, it moved some equities revenue back into the investment bank from the wind-down division it had set up as it decided to keep more services from stock trading.

And despite the credit businesses's pullback in Latin America, the firm plans to maintain some services to provide continuity for clients there.

The firm has already parted ways with senior fixed-income veterans, including John Pipilis, who oversaw the entire unit globally, and Paul Huchro, a credit trading executive who Bloomberg reported this week was leaving.

Managing directors Eric Eisner and Paul Delaney in the Latin America unit, Timothy Fischer in leveraged credit sales, and Andrew Meany in credit trading are all leaving as part of the moves, the people said. Meany declined to comment, while the other three didn't return calls seeking comment.

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