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Dresdner redundancy payments said to be quite generous

10 March 2009

Sarah Butcher

There is much to complain about in Gresham Street. Severance packages do not appear to be among them.

The big cause for complaint is already well known: bonuses. Many hundreds of Dresdner bankers are said to be preparing a lawsuit after having their bonuses slashed by up to 90%.

Current and former Dresdner bankers say further discontent is being fostered by the “stunning lack of clarity” over what Commerz actually intends to do with the business.

“When they first took it over, their intention was to lose equity research, sales and trading, and most of M&A. Then they got excited and wanted to keep some of M&A. As I understand it, they are now looking through their business plans again,” says one.

“There’s a lot of uncertainty and complete radio silence from senior management,” says another. “No one really feels safe - even those who’d previously been told that they were ok, and there are rumours of another round of redundancies.”

In the event that further redundancies do take place, the good news is that severance packages don’t appear too bad. According to former and ex-insiders, DK is paying a minimum of five months’ salary to everyone with more than 2 years’ experience.

People who are let go with more than two years’ experience are said to be getting one month’s salary for every year, up to a maximum of one year.

If true, this is a little unfair on people who’ve worked at the bank for six years and only get six months’ salary. But for DK bankers who joined two years’ ago, the package appears to be one of the most generous in the City.

Comments (22)

So if Commerz is cutting M&A, equity trading etc...what type of investment banking is going to be done at the combined entity?

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Comments (22)

  • So if Commerz is cutting M&A, equity trading etc...what type of investment banking is going to be done at the combined entity? Dresdner was already weak in fixed income and commerz was no bond house. all I can see is Deutsche and the americans are going to have a field day with gaining market share in the home country - Germany. What is the game plan for Commerz?

    Puzzled 10 Mar 2009

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  • It is to compensate you for exactly that - joining this place 2 years ago when, if you were at all decent, you could, and SHOULD, have gone elsewhere....

    Kleinwort 10 Mar 2009

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  • Talking about redundancy package, that offered by BofA seems to be the worst in the industry. It gives much less than a month for every year of service. Instead of using the latest salary in the calculation (which is higher), it averages out all historical salaries and hence use a lower number. Whatsmore, for people who don't work an exact whole number of years for instance 5 yr and 10 months, it rounds down to count only 5 yrs. What could have been worse?

    Angry 10 Mar 2009

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  • puzzling indeed. what on earth is the game plan for commerz? Is there going to be any derivatives presence at all? Are they going to focus solely on low margin commercial lending to the mittelstand? I suspect they will abandon the investment bank altogether in due course. Get out while you still can.........

    Stephanie J 10 Mar 2009

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  • I don't think they have one. They were hoping to keep some Dresdner guys in the more profitable areas. But is this logical any more now that these same guys are involved in an imminent lawsuit for unpaid bonuses?

    Observer 10 Mar 2009

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  • I mean to add to this, but just realised that I didn't, that the people who are challenging DK in court can't get those redundancy payments because they won't sign compromise agreements. Bit of a difficult situation, particularly as DK bonuses may not have been very large anyway and the redundancy payments are at least certain.

    Sarah, Editor, eFinancialCareers 10 Mar 2009

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  • I am afraid the information in this article is incorrect. I was made redundant from Dresdner last year after 3 years at the bank as a Vice President in investment banking. I barely got 3 months as my redundancy package while others who had been there for a shorter time got much less. I can safely say that Dresdner offers less generous packages than other US bank. My advice: don't believe the hype. There are lot of fantasy  redundacy packages going around. The only people who might get the big payoffs are the ones who have been at the firm for 10 years. Not the juniors or mid level employees!

    Basil 11 Mar 2009

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  • i have it on good authority that redundancy packages for dresdner employees will be 1month basic salary. 2 months basic salary at best.

    stefan(ie) J 11 Mar 2009

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  • the two posts above are both incorrect! Oh well there goes their opportunity for a career in journalism...
    It is in fact 5month for anyone employed over 1yr. Going upto a maximum of 12months

    dkib 11 Mar 2009

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  • when are decisions regarding business lines and redundancies due to be finalised?

    EQDTrader 11 Mar 2009

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