Deutsche Bank plans to move hundreds of staff out of London as a result of Brexit rather than the thousands first feared, a senior executive has said.

It is the latest global lender to roll back on suggestions of an exodus from the City caused by Britain's departure from the European Union.

Deutsche previously said it was considering shifting up to 4,000 staff from London to Frankfurt.

The bank's British boss John Cryan said last July that it was preparing for a Brexit outcome that would be "worse than people can imagine".

But on Wednesday, Stefan Hoops, head of Deutsche's capital market division in Germany, told reporters: "Not thousands will move from London, but rather hundreds."


Deutsche Bank has its headquarters in Frankfurt but 8,600 staff are currently based in Britain.

It is now planning a new booking centre in the German city to handle the billions of euros worth of non-European business currently routed through London – which may not be allowed after Brexit.

Mr Hoops said a few senior traders would relocate to Frankfurt as well as risk managers and legal and support staff.

"But the lion's share of traders will remain in London," he added.

Traders will mainly continue handling orders in the City but the booking of the trades will be carried out in Frankfurt.

Last October, Sergio Ermotti, the head of Swiss banking giant UBS, said its "worst case scenario" of having to shift 1,000 jobs out of London due to Brexit was looking "more and more unlikely".

He said there had been "more regulatory and political clarification about what we need to do".

A few days later, HSBC said that its transfer of employees from London to Paris may be less than the 1,000 previously thought.