(Bloomberg) -- Deutsche Bank AG cut the bonus pool for last year after a slump in deals and a trading slowdown.

Germany’s largest lender awarded €2.00 billion in variable compensation to staff for their work in 2023, it said in its annual report published Thursday. That compares with €2.13 billion ($2.3 billion) granted a year earlier, equivalent to a drop of 6%, confirming a previous Bloomberg News report. 

Bonuses in the investment bank dropped to €893 million from €945 million in the previous year. As headcount in the division grew, the average bonus per employee shrunk by 10.4%, according to Bloomberg calculations.

Chief Financial Officer James von Moltke said in January that bonuses would reflect last year’s performance. “And as you have seen in a number of different areas of the investment banking business in particular in 2023, it has been a difficult market”, he said at the time. 

Revenue at the investment bank declined 9% last year, led by a 38% slump in the advisory business and 11% lower trading income.

Chief Executive Officer Christian Sewing was given €8.7 million in total pay compared to the €8.9 million he received for 2022.

The reduction in Sewing’s pay comes after Deutsche Bank faced a wave of client complaints last year on the back of a database transfer from one unit to another. His short-term bonus was reduced as a result, according to the annual report. 

Karl von Rohr, the former management board member overseeing the unit where the data transfer took place, saw his short-term bonus cut in half because of the botched project. 

(Adds details from report in seventh and eighth paragraph)

©2024 Bloomberg L.P.