Germany's largest lender Deutsche Bank stated that it will axe over 7,000 jobs globally and significantly scale back its investment banking activities as it seeks to stem years of losses.

The announcement came on the same day as the bank's annual general meeting, where newly appointed chief executive Christian Sewing tried to reassure investors that the bank is ready to do what it entails to be profitable.

Christian Sewing stated, “We are not yet where we should be. Therefore we must act, and we must act swiftly and forcefully.”

The bank stated that the number of full-time positions globally would fall from 97,000 "to well below 90,000", adding that the personnel reductions were already underway.

While the bank has not mentioned which countries would be affected but said a quarter of the jobs in its equities and sales trading business would be axed.

The jobs cut is the first big decision taken by Sewing, who replaced CEO John Cryan in April this year who was ousted after under growing pressure from leading shareholders of taking too long to get the bank back on track after it posted its third year of losses in 2017.

 Sewing is also looking to shift the focus to more stable business activities such as retail banking, particularly in Europe.

Additionally, as part of the revamping exercise, the bank will reduce the investment bank's exposures by over 100 billion euros ($117 Bn), or around 10%. Meanwhile, in corporate banking, Deutsche Bank plans to slash its commitment to the United States and Asia, and focus more on Germany and Europe.

Other measures on the anvil include fully integrating subsidiary Postbank into its German retail banking operations and further reducing its massive holdings of financial derivatives.