Business · Companies · 15 hrs ago
Deutsche Bank chief urges Germany to speed up reforms
Christian Sewing, head of Deutsche Bank, says Germany’s governing coalition is not moving fast enough on reforms.
He wants the government to cut bureaucracy and make it easier for employers to respond to change by reducing job protections for more workers.
A first change already limits those protections for employees earning more than €180,000 a year, and Sewing says the threshold should be lowered, without saying how far.
He also says political developments, including AfD successes in Saxony-Anhalt and events in Berlin, risk making Germany less attractive to businesses and investors.
Sewing argues that reforms to support growth from the democratic political centre are the answer to political extremism.
He supports the planned private pension savings account and says the government should carry through its pension plans without weakening them.
He opposes a fuel-price discount, saying it is costly and unlikely to help for long.
Deutsche Bank chief executive Christian Sewing says Germany’s government must speed up reforms and make them more decisive.
He called for substantial cuts to bureaucracy and a further reduction in job protection for high earners.
Sewing said political developments in Germany pose a serious risk to the country’s appeal as a place to do business and invest.
He backed the government’s proposed pension reforms but said they should not be watered down.
He criticized the fuel discount, saying it would not provide lasting help and would add to public costs.
- Who
- Christian Sewing, chief executive of Deutsche Bank.
- What
- He urged the German government to accelerate reforms and extend a reduction in job protection to more workers.
- When
- He made the comments in an interview with Bild am Sonntag, reported on October 11, 2026.
- Where
- Germany.
- Why
- He said reforms must improve the country’s economic prospects and allow businesses to respond more quickly.
This story does not have two clearly opposing sides.
We must get better at the speed of implementation and also in consistency. And we must not always make compromises.
We must bring bureaucracy down substantially.
We must take this somewhat further down.
Every dilution is difficult and must not happen.
Germany had already restricted job protection for employees earning more than €180,000.
The new pension savings account is due to be introduced.
News outlets reported Sewing’s calls for faster reforms and looser job protection.
- Speaker
- Christian Sewing
- Position
- Chief executive of Deutsche Bank
- Existing threshold
- Job-protection changes apply to employees earning more than €180,000
- Proposed change
- Sewing said the threshold should be brought further down, without specifying how far
- Pension savings account
- Due to come at the turn of the year
Sources
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