Private banks are latest to cut contractor rates

Deutsche Bank is the latest company to join the growing number of firms announcing 10 per cent rates cuts for IT contractors in the UK, effective from the 15th September.

A spokesman for the bank declined to elaborate on the number of people the cuts would affect saying, "that is the part we are trying to keep most quiet of all.

"We don't know when or if the rates will return to their existing levels. We are not suggesting that contractors should take unpaid holiday as other companies are. We are merely trying to exercise cost cutting in our cross production and lower operating costs," he said.

Similar reports that JP Morgan is also on the verge of introducing a similar cut in rates had reached UKTECH prior to Deutsche Bank's confirmation, however, it was unwilling to confirm or deny that it would do so.

The news follows recent rates cuts announcements from Citigroup and Ericsson as well as Credit Suisse First Boston and Hewlett Packard, who are thought to have sparked the trend when they introduced 10 per cent rates cuts at the end of July.

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Richard Powell, UKTECH