Deutsche Bank, which employs 1,500 IT experts in Moscow and St Petersburg, has announced the creation of a new technology center in Berlin. Half of the IT specialists based in Russia have agreed to return or be assigned to Berlin.
Transfer of programming and development specialists
After condemning Russia's invasion of Ukraine and declaring that it would no longer accept new customers in the country, Deutsche Bank, Germany's leading bank, is beginning to organize the repatriation of its local teams to Berlin.
Established in 2001 with a view to reducing costs, Deutsche Bank's two technology centers in Russia are located in Moscow and St Petersburg. They employ 1,500 IT experts, around one tenth of the total number of IT technicians working for Deutsche Bank worldwide, including in the USA, India and Romania, where the German bank has 4 other technology centers.
Specializing in programming and software development for corporate banking and trading activities, the IT specialists employed in Russia did not handle customer data, according to Deutsche Bank. Half of these IT experts have agreed to be transferred to the new technology center in Berlin.
Deutsche Bank establishes its next Technology Centre in Berlin, Germany https://t.co/27VrAY3zRq pic.twitter.com/5XdkRqBbjO
- Deutsche Bank (@DeutscheBank) June 7, 2022
Strategic repatriation in times of skilled labor shortage
According to Deutsche Bank, the mission of the new Berlin technology center is to support " corporate and investment banking activities ".
The transfer of IT specialists from Russia began several months ago, with the support of the German embassy and consulate in Moscow, which is responsible for managing work permits.
Since new Chancellor Olaf Scholz came to power at the end of last year, Germany has been striving toattract skilled foreign workers to make up for the labor shortage caused by an aging population.
By 2021, the country will have 96,000 vacant IT positions. By transferring some of the IT staff employed in Russia, Deutsche Bank will be able to retain jobs, while at the same time addressing the issue of security in a crisis context.
While the German bank has decided to repatriate part of its Russian workforce to Berlin, American banks have opted to transfer their much smaller local workforce to Dubai. This is the case for some forty Goldman Sachs employees, i.e. half of the American bank's workforce in Russia, but also for Visa, which has reportedly offered a transfer to Dubai to its 210 employees based in Russia. While JP Morgan has not set up a relocation plan, several of its 160 Moscow-based employees are said to have opted for Dubai.