By Alexander Winning
MOSCOW (Reuters) - Germany's Deutsche Bank (DE:DBKGn) posted a statement on Thursday saying it would close its corporate banking services and securities business in Russia, where it has been hit by sanctions, a downturn and investigations into share trades.
Deutsche is in the midst of a sweeping program to shrink the group's global footprint to a regional one under new Chief Executive John Cryan.
Official investigations in Europe and the United States into share trades conducted by Deutsche's Moscow office have piled added pressure on the bank.
Reuters reported on Monday, citing financial sources, that Deutsche planned to close almost all of its Russian operations excluding transaction banking services.
The announcement of the closures appeared to have slipped out prematurely. It appeared on Thursday in a statement dated for the following day, Sept. 18, that was briefly posted on the bank's Russian website. It was subsequently removed.
A Moscow-based spokesman for the bank declined to comment. However, a source close to the bank said that it would announce an optimization of its business in Russia from Friday.
A Frankfurt-based media representative for Deutsche Bank was not immediately available.
Deutsche's Russian operation expanded rapidly on the back of lucrative financing deals it assembled for clients as the Russian economy enjoyed an oil-fueled boom.
However, deal-making in Russia has slowed because of Western sanctions imposed in response to Russia's intervention in Ukraine, and because the falling oil price has pulled Russia towards recession.