Scenes that London city workers hope they would never see again after the mass exodus from banks during the financial crisis has played out at Deutsche Bank's UK head office today. The axing of 18,000 positions worldwide from the equities teams announced by Deutsche Bank is one of the most radical since 26,000 staff members lost jobs at Lehman in 2008. Some of the 7,990 London employees of Deutsche Bank, which is one of the biggest employers in the city of London have been told this morning to clear out their desks and leave. Staff  were seen leaving the London office with thick white envelopes detailing their layoff packages; many looking visibly shaken. There were similar job losses in Tokyo, but London and New York as the trading centres of the investment bank, are expected to be hardest hit. The German workers appear not to be too worried about their overseas colleagues woes with a German public sector union, Verdi welcoming the decision of Deutsche Bank to shrink its investment banking business saying it will strengthen the bank and German jobs. Deutsche Bank's strategic overhaul is seen by most analysts as a retreat from its global ambitions. Credit investors were buoyed by the move to exit the money-losing equities trading but the share prices which rose following the restructuring announcement dropped by 3.5% by midday as analysts questioned whether the newly announced targets will be tough to achieve. – Linda van Tilburg

Deutsche Bank to exit global equities, trading business