Deutsche Bank is seeking to cut office space by 40 per cent at its key base as a rising number of employees work from home. 

Germany’s largest lender expects to achieve reductions across Frankfurt and neighbouring Eschborn by the end of 2024, it said in a response to an investor question at its annual general meeting on Wednesday (May 17). Almost two thirds of employees have registered for a hybrid work model introduced three years ago that allows up to three days of home office per week.

The firm adds to a growing number of companies shrinking their real estate footprints because fewer staff are working at the office full time after the Covid pandemic made remote work acceptable. The trend is driving up vacancy rates and is a cause for concern among US commercial real estate investors.  

For Deutsche Bank, cutting office space is also a key element in its expense savings strategy. It said in its AGM document that it currently has 3,500 leases that accounted for the largest chunk of its 1.4 billion euros (S$2.03 billion) in real estate costs last year. The 40 per cent reduction is compared with the bank’s early 2021 footprint, meaning that some reductions may have already occurred.

The lender aims to move staff currently sitting in various offices into just “a few buildings,” it said. Those buildings will be fitted “with a higher standard and designed to facilitate collaborate work.” BLOOMBERG