Mubasher: Banks across the world have laid off more than 48,500 employees this year as the economic outlook dimmed, according to Bloomberg.

The total of bank job cuts could get even higher because some lenders’ businesses are contracting without revealing the gross impact,

Moreover, there are currently reductions that have been announced earlier in the year, but have yet to be completed.  

Job cuts were more concentrated in Europe, as banks were preparing for more negative interest rates, which weighed on their bottom lines over the past five years.

The largest number of layoffs came from Germany’s troubled Deutsche Bank, with a plan to slash 18,000 of its staff, or around 20% of its workforce by 2022.

In addition, Spain’s Banco Santander, the UK’s HSBC and Barclays and France’s Société Générale are trimming thousands of jobs, while UniCredit was reportedly considering up to 10,000 cuts, but they were not yet included in Bloomberg’s global tally.