Deutsche Bank to close down remaining Russian IT operations

(Reuters) -Deutsche Bank is winding down its remaining software technology operations in Russia’s Moscow and St Petersburg as the German lender looks to end its two decades of reliance on Russian IT expertise, the Financial Times reported on Wednesday.

The bank has offered individual severance packages to the 500 IT professionals still left on its payroll in Russia and wants to shed the staff in the coming six months, the report added, citing people familiar with the matter.

Germany’s biggest bank, in a surprise move last year, had said it would wind down its Russian business after it faced stinging criticism from some investors and politicians for its ties to the country in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which Moscow calls a “special military operation”.

The lender subsequently started relocating several hundred Russian IT experts to Berlin with Handelsblatt reporting that a mid-three-digit number of the IT experts having moved as of June last year.

Deutsche Bank (ETR:) has not yet made the formal decision to completely shut down its Russian IT operations but the move is considered a done deal internally, the report said.

Deutsche Bank did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.