The scene was solemn at Deutsche Bank's offices in London, New York and Tokyo on Monday as scores of employees, belongings in hand, left their desks for the final time as the German lending giant began one of the largest rounds of layoffs since the financial crisis. Carrying boxes and envelopes containing personal effects and A4 forms, Deutsche workers started their work week by collecting their belongings and emptying their desks.

People exit Deutsche Bank's Manhattan headquarters with white envelopes that are reportedly their exit papers following news that the global banking giant will be letting go of thousands of employees due to a major restructuring at the German bank on July 08, 2019 in New York City. Spencer Platt | Getty Images

Monday's exodus represented the first wave of several rounds of layoffs at Germany's largest lender, which announced on Sunday that it will pull out of global equities sales and cut 18,000 jobs. Deutsche, which once sought to compete with Wall Street's top investment banks and trading desks, said that the vast restructuring is aimed at improving the firm's profitability and reduced adjusted costs by 25% to 17 billion euros over the next several years.

A man carrying a box leaves a Deutsche Bank office in London, Britain July 8, 2019. Simon Dawson | Reuters

The bank's international ambitions played a central part in its strategy for decades. Its $10 billion acquisition of Bankers Trust in the late 1990s, for example, helped it compete with other American investment banks like Goldman Sachs. But Deutsche's recent struggles — though heavy — are hardly unique as political uncertainty and anemic interest rates cripple European banks against their U.S. peers. Some euro zone banks, including Deutsche, have tried to mitigate the damage by shoring up unprofitable businesses and regions. And while the bank did not include a geographic breakdown of the current job cuts, London and New York are hubs for its investment bank's trading operations and could feel the greatest impact.

People exit Deutsche Bank's Manhattan headquarters with some of their belongings following news that the global banking giant will be letting go of thousands of employees due to a major restructuring at the German bank on July 08, 2019 in New York City. The bank has announced that it will reduce its workforce by 18,000 people in Asia, Europe and America. Spencer Platt | Getty Images