By Katya Golubkova
MOSCOW (Reuters) - Deutsche Bank <DBKGn.DE> views Russia as a priority, has completed a transformation of its operation there, and does not plan to cut its workforce there materially, the bank's Russia head told Reuters in an interview.
Deutsche Bank has cut back its investment banking operation in Moscow over the past few years, saying that was part of a global restructuring. Its Moscow operation was also caught up in allegations over sham trades which resulted in the German bank paying $630 million (474.5 million pounds) in fines to financial regulators in January 2017.
Borislav Ivanov was appointed Deutsche Bank's Chief Country Officer for Russia in June last year, taking over from Annett Viehweg who left the bank after overseeing the Moscow operation's restructuring.
"We now have 1,250 people working in Russia, of which more than 200 are bankers and over 1,000 employees in TechCentre," said Ivanov, referring to a Moscow-based subsidiary of the bank that provides IT services to the bank globally.
"There are no plans to materially cut this number," he told Reuters on the sidelines of the St Petersburg International Economic Forum last week.
"Russia is a priority for us. And here in Russia, we have already concluded most of the planned transformation, and (we) focus on growth in our key business of commercial banking now."
Last week, Deutsche Bank's new CEO, Christian Sewing, said the bank was cutting more than 7,000 jobs globally to cut costs and restore profitability.
(Writing by Christian Lowe; Editing by Jane Merriman)
