Deutsche Bank to close IT operations in Russia, report says

Bank has offered layoffs to the 500 IT professionals still on the payroll in the country, according to a report from the Financial Times.

Deutsche Bank is winding down its remaining software technology businesses in Russia’s Moscow and St. Petersburg as the German lender seeks to end its two-decade dependence on Russian IT expertise, the Financial Times reports.

The bank has offered individual severance payments to the 500 IT professionals still on payroll in Russia and plans to lay off staff over the next six months, the report said Wednesday, citing people familiar with the matter.

Germany’s largest bank had said in a surprise move last year that it would wind down its Russian operations after facing sharp criticism from some investors and politicians over its ties to the country in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Moscow a “special military operation”.

The lender then began moving several hundred Russian IT experts to Berlin, with Handelsblatt reporting that a mid-three-digit number of IT experts had moved as of last June.

Deutsche Bank has not yet made the formal decision to completely shut down its Russian IT operations, but the move is viewed internally as a foregone conclusion, the report said.

Deutsche Bank did not immediately respond to Reuters’ request for comment.