German lender Deutsche Bank has announced it is closing down its remaining software technology centres in Moscow and St Petersburg. The German lender will be offering severance packages to 500 software specialists still employed in Moscow and St Petersburg, after in 2022 they relocated 700 of them to a new technology centre in Berlin, according to Reuters.

Deutsche Bank and the process of exiting Russia At the start of the war Deutsche Bank employed 1,500 people in its Russian technology centre, who were responsible for developing and maintaining software for its global trading business and main corporate banking system. In 2022, the bank relocated 700 employees to a new technology centre in Berlin. Those left have now been offered voluntary redundancy packages that can be taken up within half a year, the people said.

Deutsche Bank has not yet made the formal decision to completely shut down its IT operations in Russia but that step is considered a done deal internally, according to sources cited by Reuters. This is however expected to add more time on top of the six-month redundancy window. In an official statement made by the German bank, officials argued that they will continue to de-risk operations in the Russia Technology Centre and expanded the options available to their employees to include leaving by mutual agreement alongside relocation and remaining on the platform,” the bank said in a statement, adding that the process was “in full compliance with relevant Russian legislation”.

Making the transfer between Moscow and Berlin The German group subsequently offered all its staff in Russia the option of transferring their jobs to Germany. Almost half of them took up the offer, and as many employees relocated with their partners and children, some 2,000 individuals moved. Those left in Russia have been cut off from direct access to any Deutsche Bank IT systems, with their main task becoming 'knowledge transfer' to colleagues outside of Russia.

Deutsche Bank reportedly cut its net loan exposure to Russia by 36% to EUR 379 million  in 2022 and said that it ’remains committed to further exposure reductions’. The group had already closed large parts of its investment banking activities in the country after it was fined by global regulators for conducting mirror trades that helped launder USD 10 billion out of Russia between 2011 and 2014. .