More job losses across Asia’s banking sector

Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group (MUFG) and Commerzbank are the latest banks to announce cutbacks in Asia as the list of casualties grows.

MUFG is halving its workforce in Singapore and Hong Kong across its investment banking employees. The Japanese bank is also reducing staff in its 2,000-strong banking and brokerage operations in London.

German bank Commerzbank has also announced it is slashing its workforce, axing 2,300 jobs and reducing the number of branches as part of a strategy overhaul. This comes hot on the heels of Deutsche Bank which revealed 18,000 staff would be let go as part of a major restructuring plan.

Commerzbank said it would cut 4,300 jobs in some places but add 2,000 jobs in “strategic areas”, so the group headcount would fall in total by about 2,300 full-time positions.

Banks are currently reducing their exposure to investment banking and looking to other sources of growth amid a period of economic uncertainty in the region. At the same time, digitalisation in the form of fintech and virtual banks has forced banks to rethink their strategies.