- Banks have laid off nearly 60,000 workers so far in 2019, according to a Bloomberg report.
- German giant Commerzbank is the latest to announce cuts, saying it will lay off 4,300 employees.
- Banks will keep facing pressure to boost profitability as Europe's economy weakens and the region struggles with negative interest rates.
- Read more on Markets Insider.
Bankers are having a tough year. The total number of job cuts announced by banks in 2019 has grown to nearly 60,000, Bloomberg reported on Tuesday.
The latest news comes from Commerzbank, which said it plans to eliminate 4,300 jobs as the result of a restructuring effort that began three years ago. That brings the global total of bank layoffs to 58,200, Bloomberg found.
About 90% of those positions have been eliminated in Europe, where the economy is slowing and banks battle negative interest rates. Going beyond Commerzbank, Deutsche Bank, HSBC, and Santander have also cut thousands of jobs across the continent.
German banks are faring the worst of the group, and have announced the most job cuts so far. Deutsche Bank tops the list, having announced in July that it would cut 18,000 jobs by 2022 as part of a $8.3 billion overhaul. Many of the cuts are in equities trading, research, and derivatives trading as the bank pulls back from its investment banking arm.
Outside of Germany, lenders in Spain, the UK, and France have also slashed jobs to boost profitability. The need to backstop profits comes amid globally low interest rates intended to catalyze flagging economic growth. The US-China trade war has been responsible for much of this slowdown.
Meanwhile, American banks have been winners as Deutsche downsizes. JPMorgan has gained billions in assets from top-tier hedge funds who were once Deutsche clients. Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs, Bank of America, and Citigroup have all acquired billions as well.
