Deutsche Bank announced it will exit the global equities sales and trading business and cut 18,000 jobs in a sweeping reorganization to improve profitability.

"Today we have announced the most fundamental transformation of Deutsche Bank in decades," said chief executive Christian Sewing.

The cuts will reduce the German bank's global headcount to around 74,000 employees by 2022.  Most of that action is in London and New York, so those cities will likely see the worst of the layoffs.  The bank aims to reduce adjusted costs by a quarter to 17 Billion Euros over the next several years.

Deutsche had previously hoped to compete with the big New York banks, but had been tripped up by a series of scandals.  In 2017, the bank reached a US$7.2 Billion settlement with the US justice department for allegedly misleading investors in the sale of mortgage-backed securities in the lead-up to the 2008 financial crisis.  Weeks later it was slapped with a US$630 Million fine over allegations of Russian money laundering.