Deutsche Bank announces over 7,000 lay-offs worldwide

German lender Deutsche Bank announced on Thursday it was preparing over 7,000 lay-offs across its global operations in a bid to cut costs

The bank announced it would reducing its staff from over 97,000 employees at present to below 90,000, with one in four positions in equities sales and trading expected to be impacted.

The bank, which employs roughly 8,500 people in the UK, about 66,000 in Europe, 21,000 employees in Asia and another 10,000 in North America, did not specify which regions would be hit, nor by how much each one.

CEO Christian Sewing first warned about the job cuts last month, saying that the move would be painful but was also regrettably unavoidable.

On Thursday, Mr Sewing said: "We remain committed to our Corporate & Investment Bank and our international presence - we are unwavering in that.

"We are Europe's alternative in the international financing and capital markets business. However, we must concentrate on what we truly do well."

In February, Deutsche reported a full-year loss of €500m, following €1.4bn of red ink in 2016 and €6.8bn in 2015.